Photo Memories
Sankalp Bharat 2025
Last Friday, I moderated the opening plenary of the Sankalp Bharat 2025 to explore the next phase of transformation of Indian agriculture. We didn’t just discuss problems but mapped the big shifts required for Indian agriculture over the next decade.
Here are four things we all agreed we must work towards:
Tech led transformation: Leveraging AI and digital infrastructure is critical to democratising access to finance and markets for smallholder farmers.
Climate resilience: The shift towards climate-smart farming and decarbonised value chains is not just an environmental necessity but a driver for long term economic stability.
Access to affordable capital: Indian farmers and farm enterprises need access to affordable capital and insurance products. We need to leverage our regional rural banks, agriculture financing institutions to unlock more capital and risk mitigation instruments.
Collaborative impact: Real change requires deep synergy between agtech innovators, investors, and policymakers to solve for scale and sustainability.
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RESTORE 2025
The Economics of Restoration is complicated. And, the context specific nature of interventions make it even more difficult to have commercial capital flow in these interventions for scale. But restoration of our land and food system is critical and cannot be de-prioritized just because our existing frameworks of pricing and financing are unable to do justice to them.
India’s restoration needs a dedicated institution that owns this agenda and builds the required capabilities and takes responsibility of mobilizing and channelizing capital to this space.
Above are the key points of my contribution on the panel at RESTORE 2025. Very happy to see that we are having more dedicated conversation and convening on Restoration.
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Always good to see independent bookshop thriving. Title Wave, Mumbai. #Mumbai #Bookshops
Somewhere in Cooch Behar district .. exploring how communities can leverage Agroforestry practices.
Ganga Mahal Ghat, Varanasi (2015)
The sky was intriguing and the landscape was soothing! #London #BlackAndWhite #iPhone
Walking around in London. The clean air and the buildings and locations with many fragments of history attached to them is quite inviting to get out and walk.
The Destroyer of Bird Nests
The Sentinel
The flagstaff tower, Delhi
The colors of spring from our garden
The flame of forest - Palash
Reminiscing our GIZ days
It has been over 12 years since I moved to Delhi to join GIZ’s Renewable Energy team. Leaving IFMR in Chennai for a short-term project at GIZ—one that was set to end in just eight months—was a significant decision. I took the leap with the hope that a second phase of the project would extend our time at GIZ, and fortunately, I ended up working there for nearly three years. It turned out to be a professionally enriching and transformative experience.
Today, I had the pleasure of reconnecting with some old colleagues and meeting new ones who are now part of the same programs we once worked on. The best part of our GIZ journey is that all of us continue to contribute to energy transition and climate solutions in different capacities. No matter where we are, our paths keep crossing, reinforcing the strong professional network we built during our time at GIZ.
Transforming Agriculture in the Global South – The South-South Agriculture Alliance
I strongly believe that innovative AgTechs can address some of the most pressing problems of the smallholder farmers and small producers. India has been a hub of AgTech innovation and several solutions that have proven themselves in India are now looking to take their solutions to other global south countries.
As part of South South Agriculture Alliance (SSAGA) we are working on innovation and technology transfer across the global south with aim to transform agriculture for the small producers and small farmers. The first cohort of our SSAGA entrepreneurs are already forging their partnership in the Africa region.
It is a pleasure to work with these exciting companies and host them at Sankalp Forum at Nairobi. Watch out for these firms..
WRMS – Innovative insurance products for climate risk facded by the smallholder farmers.
WhrrL – A wharehouse receipt based loan for smallholder farmers that is leveraging blockchain to for building trust and transparency for the lenders
SatSure – Crop yield-management, monitoring and agriculture advisory to farmers using deep-tech (satellite remote sensing, machine learning and AI)
ScaNxt – Affordable soil-testing and other solutions for smallholder farmers
Prompt Innovations – Affordable and sustainable milk chilling solutions for small milk producers.
Afsanah Guest House, Auroville
Some flowers for Shri Ganesha, Auroville 2025
The Kapaleeshwarar Temple, Mylapore. 7th Century Temple with distinct Dravidian architecture. #chennai #temples #hindutemple #leicam
Durga Puja 2024, Saket
The Budding Photographer
