Repair Knowledge in Sustainability Policy

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Context:

In May 2025, the Indian government accepted a report proposing a Repairability Index for electronics, alongside new e-waste incentives, highlighting the role of repair as a sustainability and knowledge resource.

Significance of Repair in Sustainability

Tacit Knowledge Preservation: Informal repairers possess skills rooted in observation, improvisation, and sensory diagnosis, which are not easily codifiable but crucial for extending product lifecycles.
Circular Economy Enablers: Repairers in hubs such as Karol Bagh and Ritchie Street keep devices functional beyond planned obsolescence, reducing e-waste generation and promoting resource efficiency.
Global Policy Parallels: The EU mandates spare-part access and repair documentation, while India’s Right to Repair framework (2022) and national portal (2023) provide an evolving regulatory base.

Policy and Institutional Gaps

Limited Policy Recognition: The E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022, emphasise Extended Producer Responsibility but give minimal weight to repair as a preventive strategy.
Skilling Framework Mismatch: National skilling programmes such as PMKVY focus on standardised industrial skills, overlooking the adaptive and diagnostic nature of repair work.
Underutilised National Initiatives: NEP 2020 and Mission LiFE encourage experiential learning and reuse, yet lack targeted measures for sustaining repair communities’ livelihoods.

AI-Integrated Solutions and Future Roadmap

Design for Unmaking: Hardware standards should mandate repairability features, informed by AI-based diagnostics and lifecycle analysis.
Cross-Ministry Coordination: MEITY, Consumer Affairs, Labour, and Skill Development ministries can integrate repairability into procurement, training, and social protection schemes.
Knowledge Codification with AI: Large Language Models and decision-tree systems can capture and share tacit repair expertise without erasing local context, enabling formal recognition and upskilling.

Practice Question:

"Discuss the significance of recognising informal repair work as a form of knowledge capital in the context of India’s sustainability and digital innovation policies. Suggest institutional measures to integrate repairability into the national policy framework." (250 words)

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