Mission millet

ITC hit the ground running when the government's millets initiative took off

- K. SUNIL THOMAS

BUSINESSMAN, agriculture innovator, professional entrepreneur, social reformer. The last one is one epithet S. Sivakumar, head of ITC's agri-business division, may do a double-take on, but it is certainly true.

In the early 2000s, ITC's e-Choupal empowered lakhs of farmers through digitisation. An internet kiosk installed in select villages provided valuable information on anything from weather conditions for farming to procurement price at various mandis. While it became a much-feted bridge between technology and the farming community, few actually know that it almost came unstuck because of one stark Indian reality— caste.

Initially, the internet kiosk was installed in the house of a Choupal sanchalak, a coordinator selected by the company, in each village. That sparked off the first roadblock— many villagers complained that at least two kiosks should be provided, for each of the two dominant castes in the area.

After much deliberation, the company put its foot down. “Our belief was that we were building an economic institution, and it should be agnostic to social and political aspects,” said Sivakumar. “We said we would follow the screening parameters for an ideal sanchalak, and then see if other [castes] would use it or not.”

While those not from the same caste as the sanchalak kept away during the following sowing and harvest season, the differences slowly started to dissolve by the second and third seasons, as the economic benefits of getting on the platform became evident to the villagers.