Innholdsfortegnelse for 1 September 2025 i India Today

Bolstered by his family’s business and shaken by a cancer diagnosis, this poultry farmer patented a diet for his birds so that their eggs had an extra kick—of health Aditya Gupta returned to Bhopal after completing his computer science degree in his early twenties but didn’t end up taking the path his credentials suggested. He knew he wanted to enter his family’s agricultural business right out of the college gates, sidestepping the midlife crisis that Indian engineers often face when they realise this was never what they wanted to do with their lives anyway. He decided to get into poultry but chose the egg business, avoiding the sale of chicken for meat—and his life would never be the same. The young engineer interned for six months at RS Agro, a…

In 2012, Shruti Malik Oberoi made a bold choice that reshaped her life and the lives of hundreds around her. After a successful stint at Sapient Nitro in Gurugram, she walked away from the corporate hustle and the city’s maddening rush. Her heart was set on Yamunanagar, her hometown in Haryana, where she could live close to her loved ones and pursue work that carried deeper meaning. What looked like a retreat from ambition was, in fact, the start of an inspiring entrepreneurial journey. “I always wanted to impact lives, rather than doing a nine-to-five corporate job,” says 35-year-old Shruti. The best part was that her decision coincided with a national awakening for skill development. India was innovating aggressively to bridge the skill gap, with new programmes launched by the…

On a quiet street in Kohima, 40-year-old Neilhoupeu Koza looked at the shelves of her small apparel shop and dreamed of expansion. For that, she needed Rs 1.5 lakh. Miles away, in Bihar’s Supaul district, Gita Devi, who runs a modest fish farm, was worried about something far more immediate: buying feed worth Rs 20,000. For both women, these were not just loans, they were lifelines. Their struggles are echoed by millions across India. Despite a decade of financial inclusion drives, 86 per cent of eligible Indians still remain outside the reach of formal credit. The gap forces them towards moneylenders who charge ruinous rates of 60–100 per cent per annum, or microfinance institutions and NBFCs where rates rarely dip below 24 per cent. It was this stark reality that…

On a warm afternoon in Mubarakpur, near IIM Lucknow, the faint scent of lemongrass mingles with the earthy smell of drying leaves. Inside a two-storey building, women in crisp hairnets and gloves move in a quiet rhythm—weighing powders, sealing soaps, sliding green tea pouches into neat stacks. Along one wall, rows of jars and packets gleam in shades of green, each tagged with a name and batch date. Almost all of it traces back to a single, unassuming tree that has quietly gone global: moringa. Also known as the drumstick tree, moringa is a hardy, fast-growing plant long used in Indian kitchens. In recent years, it has been crowned a “superfood” abroad, thanks to its dense load of protein, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Nearly every part of the plant—leaves, pods,…

Born in a farming family in Jalna district, Maharashtra, Sandeep Dabhade grew up with limited means. His father barely earned Rs 1-1.5 lakh a year. Despite the family’s financial struggles, Dabhade’s life was steeped in music. His father, Baburao Dabhade, was a respected kirtankar and skilled tabla player, and sparked the love for rhythm and melody in his son too. After finishing his 12th grade in Badnapur tehsil, Sandeep moved to Pune to pursue a BA in Economics, while also enrolling in a diploma course in music. He went on to complete an MA in music. That latter strand played a big part in Dabhade’s life those days: the side gigs financed his studies. He remembers performing at various venues across Maharashtra, especially an electrifying evening at a cultural event…

Ever since the British introduced it widely, the invasive water hyacinth has suffocated wetlands across India. The weed erodes biodiversity, ruins aquatic life and, as a corollary, also chokes livelihoods. Assam’s Deepor Beel, a wetland near Guwahati, was precisely such a watery graveyard. Now, a bold innovation flips the script: Kumbhi Kagaz, paper crafted from this very ecological curse. Co-founder and wildlife enthusiast Rupankar Bhattacharjee, 28, was assisting his mentor, renowned herpetologist Jayaditya Purkayastha, track a python at Deepor Beel when the snake slipped away into a thicket of water hyacinth, ruining his photo session. As Purkayastha deplored the choked wetland, Rupankar set about thinking. An idea took root when he confided with his friend and co-founder, Aniket Dhar, 25. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Rupankar researched further and set upon…

In November 2022, three long-time colleagues—Subhasis Mishra, Amulya Kumar Mohanty and Pankaj Kumar Singh—decided to trade the security of salaried jobs for the uncertainty of entrepreneurship. After nearly two decades working together at Bosch Rexroth, a company specialising in hydraulic pumps, they pooled their provident fund savings to start a venture of their own. Three months later, their company, Saiflonix Hydraulics, opened doors in Bhubaneswar. The firm offers a one-stop solution for repairing and servicing hydraulic pumps—the kind used in mining, construction and other heavy-duty industries. “In less than two years, we have built a customer base of more than 70 clients across India, with 40–50 per cent based in the eastern region, and even an international customer in Indonesia,” Mishra, one of the firm’s directors, says. “IN TWO YEARS,…

In 2015, when serial entrepreneur Kaushik Kappagantulu met Reshma, a smallholder farmer in south India, he marvelled at the resilience of the spirit he was witnessing. Despite facing the worst of nature every time she turned to it for bounty, she refused to let her smile drop. That year, half her tomato crop had been wiped out by pests. The year before, unseasonal rains had destroyed her pepper. For six months every year, her land lay fallow because of how hot it was. “And Reshma is not alone,” says Kappagantulu. “One hundred million small farmers in India on average lose money from agriculture. Meeting her made it clear that small farmers need affordable solutions against climate risks. That is what set us on the path to creating Kheyti.” “ONE HUNDRED…

AS THE BJP’S PARLIAMENTARY BOARD MET IN NEW DELHI ON August 16, nobody would have called the task at hand a routine one. The NDA’s vice-presidential nominee was going to be named, after all. That too, to fill the space left by a contentious departure. But the final choice restored things to a comfortable groove for the BJP—a sense of desired order, going even beyond the routine. The anointed one was C.P. Radhakrishnan, currently Maharashtra governor, a two-time Coimbatore MP before that and, more importantly, a former RSS state head in Tamil Nadu. It was straight out of the Narendra Modi playbook: ideological loyalty and identity fused in one figure, as the prime minister’s strategic choices have preferred of late. As the chosen name passes through the filter of the…

This past fortnight, all eyes were on the resumed fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastics in Geneva. That consensus has yet again proved elusive is disappointing but, frankly, not a surprise. To give the issue context, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) had adopted a resolution, pilo ted by India, on pollution caused by singleuse plastics (SUP), in 2019. In 2021, India imposed a ban on SUP, effective from July 1, 2022, and then notified the Extended Producer Responsibility Rules in February 2022, which casts an obligation on producers, importers and brand owners of all products containing plastics, towards collecting and recycling the resultant waste plastic. Rwanda and Peru and, later, Japan, piloted resolutions in 2021, calling for a ban on plastics production. Mindful of the…

From the sprawling urban landscape of Delhi, where corporate ambitions unfold in glass-walled highrises, Ajay Singh embarked on a road less travelled—one that would lead him from corporate professionalism to the earthy wisdom of running a goat farm with 300 goats. The son of a CRPF sub-inspector from Barsana village in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri, Ajay trained as an accountant and worked in banking. The property boom in 2011 led him to switch boats and open a real estate company and purchase 35 acres of farmland near Alwar, Rajasthan. The aim was to sell farm plots. In 2015, the Indian real estate marked nosedived. Ajay, who was living in the village to develop the plots, had invested his savings in land that now had no buyers. “There were times when I…

Sikkim—a land where mountain lakes reflect cobalt blue skies and the torn edges of snow-clad mountains. Amidst swirling mist and sudden rain, the scent of wild herbs and mountain flowers waft in—the source of half-remembered recipes for homely skincare products. In this enchanted land, Rinzing Choden Bhutia, 45, began a journey that would transform her own life, and that of hundreds of women. Raised in the mountains and deeply influenced by traditional healing practices, Rinzing left her corporate job in Delhi and returned to Sikkim, with the desire to build something meaningful using the ways of her land. What began in 2019 as a sustainable homestay project in her husband’s village, Kabi, soon evolved into something entirely different. During a visit to a yoga retreat in West Bengal, Rinzing took…

In a remote corner of Assam, where the rustle of areca nut (tamul in Assamese) leaves falling to the ground went mostly unnoticed, Arindam Dasgupta spied something different. Where others saw waste, he saw possibility. That vision gave birth to Tamul Plates Marketing Pvt Ltd in 2010, a social enterprise founded not in the boardrooms of big cities but in the heart of rural India, with a simple idea and three friends who chose purpose over predictability. Arindam’s journey took him from Jamshedpur to Delhi and then to the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Gujarat, where a stark paradox struck him. Western India, with its arid terrain and limited natural resources, seemed more prosperous than the resource-rich East. The discrepancy gnawed at him, and, determined to make a change where…

When Nabamita Bhattacharya and her husband, Sattam, left behind a comfortable life in London to return to Kolkata in 2013, it was not for career prospects, but for family. Their ageing parents needed them close. The decision would quietly plant the seed for a venture that, years later, would bridge similar distances for many others. In 2020, as the pandemic sharpened the isolation of the elderly, Sattam voiced an idea to his wife: what if there were a service that could stand in for adult children who lived far away? Nabamita, a former HR professional, was immediately on board. Sattam introduced Nabamita to his old schoolmate, Sanjeev Khona, who in turn brought in his wife, Sangita—both Calcutta University alumni with combined expertise in sales, distribution, customer relations and service delivery.…

Adversity has never been a deterrent for Joy Sebastian, co-founder and CEO of Techgentsia Software Technologies. Born into a non-literate fisherfolk family in the coastal village of Pathirapally in Alappuzha district, his parents struggled to educate him. But Joy went on to complete his graduation and then a Master of Computer Applications (MCA) in 1999. The job path took him to an IT startup in Kochi that specialised in internet communication solutions. “Mylifeand career were on track, I was married, drawing a decent salary. But then the company shut shop,” recalls Sebastian. That twist of fate came in 2007. “I had a home loan and no money to pay the instalment. I joined a Sharjah-based IT company as a consultant, but that too didn’t last long.” It was this second…

IF bamboo symbolises resilience, so does 27-year-old Satyam Sundaram. From modest beginnings in Purnia, Bihar, he now runs a thriving eco-enterprise that supplies 300 handcrafted bamboo products across 25 states. Satyam grew up in a household where sustenance came from his father’s humble vocation: cooking in the Bihar Police mess. Satyam tried hard for a government post, but fell short. An MBA in Kolkata became his turning point. Internships with major brands taught him persuasion, market strategy and the fundamentals of selling—skills that would define his career. Still, starting something of his own was easier said than done. In the post-COVID wave of “return to nature” thinking, Satyam saw bamboo as an untapped alternative to plastic. However, securing finance was a battle. After months of running between offices, he finally…

A portmanteau born from the lush, unspoiled forests of Jashpur in northern Chhattisgarh, Jashpure is more than a brand name. It’s the shared identity of over 50 all-women self-help groups (SHGs). Conceived in February 2024 by then district magistrate Ravi Mittal, the initiative tackles the hurdles SHGs face in selling their wares and helps tribal communities find markets for their processed produce. As its name suggests, Jashpure champions purity—a quality easier to preserve in these tribal regions, where the soil remains far less polluted by chemical fertilisers than in the plains. “The common challenge faced by SHGs in getting their produce to find takers is the lack of long-term handholding, along with certain inadequacies among SHG members in understanding business aspects such as branding, packaging and marketing,” says Samarth Jain,…

Shyamendra Singh’s life has always been about swimming against the tide. Born in the erstwhile royal family of Nagod in Satna district in MP, he had his heart set on working in the tourism sector from a young age. “It was on a family trip to Tree Tops at Chitwan National Park in Nepal that I decided on a career in wildlife tourism,” he says. As providence would have it, in 1986, retired major and 1971 war veteran Chandrakant Singh invited Shyamendra to invest with him in a wildlife tourism project at Madla, a quiet village on the banks of the Ken in Panna district. The Panna National Park had been notified some years before and Madla was one of the entry gates. Ken River Lodge was born with four…

On August 11, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court ordered all stray dogs in Delhi-NCR to be confined to shelter homes. The ruling drew sharp criticism from leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi, who called the ‘blanket removals’ cruel and shortsighted. Yet, while one Congress family opposed the move, another was endorsing it—former Union minister and Rajya Sabha MP P. Chidambaram and his son, Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram, who has long campaigned for removing stray dogs from city streets. With the SC now reviewing its own order, it remains to be seen which family’s stand prevails. PAYING THE PRICE SAMOSA SERMONS The BJP’s leaders have of late developed a fixation with the deep-fried samosa. In Parliament last month, party MP and…

When India celebrated its 78th anniversary of Independence this August 15, the country stood on the cusp of a transformative economic decade. One that will be shaped not just by sprawling industrial conglomerates or billion-dollar unicorns, but by the quiet and consistent rise of India’s unsung entrepreneurs who work on looms, toil in two-room factories, commute mostly on two-wheelers and come home to load-shedding. They convert local problems and needs into entrepreneurial opportunities and create millions of jobs while sustaining India’s social and economic fabric. In size, these micromoguls may be modest, but their impact on the economy is colossal and their life stories are truly inspiring. Take Rupankar Bhattacharjee, who was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug in the most unusual of circumstances. A wildlife enthusiast, he was on a…

In the first decades of the 20th century, affordable bicycles transformed thousands of Indian lives—allowing them an unparalleled mobility. While it has never quite lost its popularity in rural and semi-urban areas, the urban masses have since reposed their faith in mass transport systems, with an aspirational eye out for their first car. But the humble bicycle still had an ace up its chain, as Arjit Soni realised. Arjit had always wanted a car, and bought one soon after he started practising as a chartered accountant in South Mumbai. But the grinding realities of Indian roads detracted from the pleasure of driving—why, it took 30 minutes to enter the parking lot of his favourite mall, and 45 minutes to exit! “As a student, I used the local train and had…

Marathoners Shriyans Bhandari and Ramesh Dhami faced a peculiar problem. They used several pairs of shoes every year, leaving them with a pile of old ones. “We wanted to recycle old shoes, but the concept of these being recycled and refurbished was unheard of,” says Bhandari. Originally from Udaipur, Bhandari was in Mumbai for his education. There, he bonded with Dhami, who had run away from his village in Uttarakhand at the age of nine to become an actor. What brought them together was their shared passion for running. “WE WON THE 2015 EDITION OF ‘EUREKA!,’ ORGANISED BY IIT BOMBAY. OVER 7,000 HAD PARTICIPATED IN THE COMPETITION BUT OUR SOCIAL STARTUP MADE THE CUT. THIS MOTIVATED US”SHRIYANS BHANDARI In 2016, the duo started the Green-Sole Foundation to recycle shoes into…

The roads and water bodies leading to Gadihama, the last, and perhaps remotest, village of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, are strikingly clean. Starkly different from the Valley’s other rural parts, no garbage meets the eye as one cuts through jampacked apple orchards and finds the crystalline Aharbal waterfall feeding into the Veshaw river, the biggest tributary of the Jhelum. It’s not as if this idyll escaped modernity. Rather, it was restored to its pristine self via the labour of 36-year-old Tariq Ahmad Ganie, who has taken it upon himself to make public spaces in Kashmir free of the garbage and scrap that had been accumulating for years. On a bumpy road lining a stream in Gadihama, Ganie’s garbage processing unit, spread across a little over two kanals of land, processes…

Where others run far when they hear bees buzzing, Gajanan Bhalerao runs towards them. They have been his childhood friends since the time he was growing up in Sawana in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district, climbing trees to hunt for beehives, squeezing the nectar out of them and licking the honey off his fingers. If they stung him, Bhalerao did not seem to notice, so focused was he on the sweet reward of his pursuit. It would have remained a fond childhood memory had Bhalerao not joined a transport company at the age of 16 and encountered bee boxes while driving through the towns and villages of Jhalawar and Kota in Rajasthan. “I saw bee boxes for the first time and asked people about them. That’s when I understood the importance of…

At 6 am, when most are still hitting pause on alarm buttons, Iaishah Rymbai is already in motion. By the time she reaches school at 9, she has completed household chores and mapped out the day’s business plans. After teaching until 2 pm, she trades the classroom for her office—not to rest, but to manage what she calls “a movement that uplifts women in rural Meghalaya”. This is not your typical startup tale. There’s no Silicon Valley origin, no venture capital windfall. Just a divorced single mother of four from Kdonghulu village, who in her 40s launched a business with Rs 20,000 from savings and Rs 30,000 in donations—armed only with inherited weaving skills and sheer determination. The enterprise that would become EriWeave in 2022 wasn’t born from a business…

In 2000, a few months after taking over as honorary secretary of the Rajasthan Polo Club in Jaipur, ex-army officer and polo player Vikram Singh Rathore helped organise the Polo World Cup qualifier in the city. The Indian polo team was the zonal champion that year. The years rolled on, but, in 2009, he had to quit the club to which he had dedicated his prime years. There was a battle for its control, in which Rathore found himself out of favour with the club patrons, the erstwhile royal family of Jaipur, making his exit inevitable. “In hindsight, it was a blessing in disguise. I looked back at my years with the army and thought, ‘I’m still in my 40s, it’s not too late to take a risk, set up…

At around the 50-page mark in Dapaan, Ipsita Chakravarty’s nonfiction book about Kashmir, there’s a brilliant passage where the author reproduces part of a bhand paether (a Kashmiri folk theatre form) skit. An armed soldier, looking for a man named Gani, is shocked when the man’s brother at the door calls out for “Gun Kak” (or ‘gun uncle’). The soldier, sputtering with rage, asks “gun cocked?”, before beating up Gani. This bit of Kafkaesque tragicomedy has been a part of bhand artists’ repertoire since the 1990s, as Chakravarty tells us. Dapaan gets its name from a Kashmiri word often uttered at the beginning of a folk-tale, meaning ‘it is said’. This is a book of stories-about-stories, especially in terms of how people incorporate traditional forms of storytelling (like bhand paether…