From software to humanware – exporting labour

Categories Opinion

I was once talking to one of the oldest heads in agriculture who had later moved into agritech. Everyone knows him but not sharing names here. He has lately been a little pessimistic about the future and impact of agritech. I counted off all that I had read and the immense potential for growth. He gave me a simple simile. He asked me what was behind the IT exports boom in India? I said a huge pool of talent, better skills and cost effective delivery…Continue Reading “From software to humanware – exporting labour” →

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Entreprenuers, working on the origin story.

Categories Branding

l was listening to the Nikhil Kamath podcast. One of the founders narrated a story that began with we didn’t have it easy as children and ended with education in Switzerland and Paris. As we have seen, lately, India has seen a lot of anger around privilege, where you come from and how you tell your story. With rising wealth inequality and 1% of people owning 50% of the wealth in the world’s most populous country, such anger will only rise. it’s time successful founders…Continue Reading “Entreprenuers, working on the origin story.” →

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On 70 hour work week

Categories Opinion

When my generation started working, 9-9 was a done thing. Everyone worked that long. It was the norm. That was the bare minimum that was expected. Some of my friends in advertising worked harder and longer. It won’t be too far fetched to say India’s IT boom was based on dollar exchange rate, cheap labour, zero respect for labour laws and a massive massive labour pool. That is changing. Global IT demand has been shrinking last few quarters. India now competes with smaller countries with…Continue Reading “On 70 hour work week” →

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Science and sincerety must return to Indian agricultural carbon

Categories Opinion

Indian carbon sector has a credibility issue. Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) recently brought out a report whose cover screamed Discredited: The Voluntary Carbon Market in India. While it was known that all is not well and there were murmurs, this was the most definitive takedown, so far. Many who may not know CSE would know Amitav Ghosh, the famous writer. He tweeted and I quote “The Voluntary Carbon Market ‘isn’t benefiting climate or communities – it serves the interest of the retinue of project…Continue Reading “Science and sincerety must return to Indian agricultural carbon” →

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Social Innovations to make Agtech Solutions accessible to Farmers

Categories Food

On 31st of August, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India organised the National Conclave on “Unleashing the potential of Agritech Startups for the benefit of Farmers” at NASC Complex, Pusa , New Delhi. For the first time, the Ministry partnered with all major industry associations, PHD Chamber of Commerce and industry, FICCI and Confederation of Indian Industry to organise day long deliberations on diverse farmer issues and the role digital technologies can play to alleviate the same. I was fortunte that PHD…Continue Reading “Social Innovations to make Agtech Solutions accessible to Farmers” →

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You are so lucky you found her

Categories Humour

Within five minutes of meeting us, almost everyone ends up telling me how lucky I am. My first response is to tell them the truth. That there was no luck. It was an elaborate plan, the great heist, a master strategy, a bountiful hunt. They scoff. They, then, make me sit down. Hold my hands. Look inside my eyes. And, tell me that I should feel extremely lucky. It is not us. It is never us for finding each other. The luck is entirely mine….Continue Reading “You are so lucky you found her” →

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Farm laws, digital platforms and vested evangelism

Categories Opinion

You can totally dismiss this piece as a conspiracy theory. I will advise don’t. Everyone wins when citizens actually show interest in understanding where their policy comes from. Many of my colleagues in the technology industry are ambitious, well meaning and have great plans to impact lives. But respect for on-ground realities, structures and due process is the difference between agritech of 2013 and 2023. We came in as an impatient lot. There was so much inefficiency, so many middlemen, so much data and potential….Continue Reading “Farm laws, digital platforms and vested evangelism” →

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Bengaluru CEO can’t get his business registered. Linkedin blames him.

Categories Opinion

An entrepreneur came to India. Tried to set up a business. Failed to even register it after a lot of effort. He put it out on twitter and left. And, that has divided the nation. I didn’t really wake up to the news until I saw a few successful entrepreneurs blame him for not having what it takes. That felt personal. Because not so long ago, I had joined a large and powerful organization. I did fairly well, set up a new initiative, got recognised…Continue Reading “Bengaluru CEO can’t get his business registered. Linkedin blames him.” →

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Is tomato price hike ONDC’s demonetization moment?

Categories Food

Recently, the govt announced that tomatoes will be sold in select cities on ONDC at seventy rupees per kilo. Can tomato price hike be to ONDC what demonetization was to digital payment? Folks at ONDC must be wishing so. But here is why, inspite of being seemingly comparable, the two instances are drastically different. 1. Demonetization was a much more acute case of deprivation. Not having cash and not having tomatoes don’t pinch similarly. 2. The duration of cashlessness was much longer. There wasn’t much…Continue Reading “Is tomato price hike ONDC’s demonetization moment?” →

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Tomatoes, profiteering farmer and an idiom for Indian agriculture

Categories Food

Remember those idioms we were all told as children? They were short and wise and could be interpreted in multiple ways. And, there was a lesson for everyone. This farmer here has the potential to become an idiom for Indian agriculture. He is a rare farmer who has made windfall profits,  2.8 crores so far, from rising prices. So, what does he tell us? 1. Do we see a smart farmer who saw an opportunity and cashed in? Do we celebrate him like we celebrate…Continue Reading “Tomatoes, profiteering farmer and an idiom for Indian agriculture” →

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Marriage Rituals in Odisha: Tradition or Regression?

Categories Opinion

Weddings say a lot about a society and the people tying the knot. While weddings can be occasions for the young couples to rebel and show their progressive stripes, they are also an opportunity for couples to live up their one day in life. To most, austerity seems like a lost opportunity. In a society that strongly preaches that you marry only once, and divorces and remarriages are grudgingly accepted, most tow the line down to the last ritual because you do it only once;…Continue Reading “Marriage Rituals in Odisha: Tradition or Regression?” →

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Meeting Hansel Vaz. Talking Feni.

Categories Passion Parade

I had the good fortune of meeting a diverse set of entrepreneurs in Goa and extending my understanding of agriculture and allied sectors. It is our centuries of colonial conditioning that we don’t think of a few sectors when it comes to ‘allied’ sectors. When we think of value addition or empowering farmer groups, we only look for success in drying, storing and very basic levels of processing. Meeting Hansel Vaz was a learning experience. A geologist who came back to India to work on…Continue Reading “Meeting Hansel Vaz. Talking Feni.” →

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Meeting Desmond Nazareth. Talking Mahua Policy

Categories Passion Parade

Despite the countless stories from the Indian agricultural sector, there are many that remain untold. Stories of individual triumph in a depressing and debilitating policy ecosystem. During my recent trip to Goa, I met one such entrepreneur. Desmond Nazareth. He is a hero in select circles and unknown in the Indian agricultural world. He is credited with bringing agave cultivation to India and giving India its own version of tequila. The brand, Desmondji, is probably better known outside than within India. And, the only thing…Continue Reading “Meeting Desmond Nazareth. Talking Mahua Policy” →

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Repair shop or sustiainability startup

Categories Midnight City

Sustainability. Probably one of the most used words during the last decade. The concept has been democratised in the sense that every person and organisation feels like a stakeholder. That is a good thing. The not so good thing is how the concept has been ‘othered’ to borrow a term from sociology and alienated. Sustainability as a segment has grown to become both a vertical and also horizontal across large organisations. Large amounts of money have moved to this vertical. What it has achieved among…Continue Reading “Repair shop or sustiainability startup” →

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Why we must speak ill of the dead

Categories Opinion

The man is dead. Why speak evil of him? Asked a concerned friend. Why does the right speak evil of dead Mahatma and dead Nehru? Why is the right writing new fiction about a dead Savarkar? Why do we not even remember which royalties sided up with the British when we visit their palaces and see their wealth in museums? Death is not an end. It is the end of a man. It is the beginning of archive, memory, legacy and legend. How will history…Continue Reading “Why we must speak ill of the dead” →

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Raneh Falls with Raveesh

Categories Travel

Raneh Falls is a dangerous area with it’s sharp drops, volcanic rocks and gushing water. Many adventurous ones have died during their dare devilry. The govt has now mandated that every group has to be escorted by a guide. Raveesh was our guide. We were there for an hour. An hour spent looking at the water and talking with Raveesh. We talked about the UP leasing the dam and diverting all the water that the locals could have used; about the difficulty of terrain and…Continue Reading “Raneh Falls with Raveesh” →

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My body in autos

Categories Midnight City

Autos demand a certain upper and lower body ratio that I don’t have. The lack of shock absorbers means my spine is constantly playing relay back and forth, back and forth. If you have longer legs, you can’t put both feet on the floor. One stays on the floor with thigh at the right angle. Perfect to absorb shocks. The other leg lies at a queer angle. Vibrating with the machine. Like a seismograph. Your upper body sways like Jagannath during pahundi jatra. The same…Continue Reading “My body in autos” →

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Househunting in Noida

Categories Opinion

The Indian summer and our search for a house have begun together. Despite the pains, I am sticking to ethics. And, the ethics of making jokes is to punch up. So, after South Delhi, let us talk about Noida. I can’t afford a house in either, so it is a punch up for sure. A friend is buying a house, so we tagged along just for a look see. The first property we saw was a NOIDA housing scam elevator pitch. The houses are complete….Continue Reading “Househunting in Noida” →

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The Mythological South Delhi

Categories Humour

South delhi. That thin and mythical piece of land where everyone lives and everyone else doesn’t. GK doesn’t consider CR Park south delhi and has a gate to keep the parkians from coming in and stealing the flowers from their parks. True story narrated by friends. Parkians don’t consider kalkaji south delhi because that side of road is just cheap and dirty. Kailash colony in all this has gone ahead and renamed itself GK 4 or something like that. So, SDA is not south delhi….Continue Reading “The Mythological South Delhi” →

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Chain of pathlabs. For food.

Categories Midnight City

Turmeric caused lead poisoning. To South Asians, it’s equivalent to a medicine turning out to be poision. There are many reasons why this continues to happen and many of us are working on supply side to ensure it doesn’t. But while working with growers and processors is important and we know that’s where high value technology will see probable mass adoption and sustain our revenues, there is an equal need of consumer technologies that can place the power on the retail buyer’s hand. Currently, the…Continue Reading “Chain of pathlabs. For food.” →

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