Kerala

Jobin S Kottaram's Absolute IAS Academy based in Kerala has helped 108 aspirants crack the UPSC CSE examination, and continues to mentor vernacular and handicapped aspirants.

After selling his stake in Terumo Penpol Ltd, which is one of the largest makers of high-tech bio-medical devices in the world, Balagopal Chandrasekhar went onto support a plethora of social development initiatives in Kerala and Manipur, where he once served as an IAS officer.

A daily wager in Kerala, Sageer Upahara used his small terrace to farm fish and grow vegetables via aquaponics when his work suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s the inspiring story of his #lockdownbusiness.

From coriander and cauliflower to strawberries, grapes and passion fruit, Rajmohan from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram grows them all in 200 sacks on his terrace. He explains all you need to know about grow bag gardening.

After he lost his job 16 years ago, P Siva Kumar, a native of Palakkad in Kerala, started Amritha Foods with his wife Sandhya in 2005. The couple sell fresh homemade kondattam (fryums) using his mother’s recipe in a variety of flavours such as tomato, tomato, garlic, bitter gourd, onion, spinach and banana shoot, and now earns enough to support his family.

Hafez Rahman and Akshay Raveendran launched Athey Nallatha, a small-scale pickle manufacturing business, which employs Kerala's homemakers.

With Rs 170 in his pocket and Google Maps as his guide, Nidhin M R from Kerala's Thrissur is heading north. He narrates why he has taken up this 100-day mission from Kerala to Jammu and Kashmir on his bicycle.

51-year-old journalist Narayanan Kannalayam from Kerala grows 87 varieties of beans on his farm, with an aim to conserve the older varieties of the crop. So far, he has inspired around 80 women from his area to grow their own kitchen gardens, and grows a variety of other vegetables like cauliflower, ginger, radish, and carrot, among others.

Manju Hari, from Pathanamthitta, began growing and selling moss roses after her husband lost his job during the pandemic. She has over 100 varieties of the plant in her nursery, including Cinderella, Jumbo, and Table Rose. She sells the plant at Rs 5 per stem, and now earns enough to sustain her family.

Ayyappa Das (39) a native of Ernakulam in Kerala, started breeding guppy fish at home after he lost his carpentry job due to COVID-19. To date, he has sold over 5,000 guppies, and has over 1,500 at home, in 18 different varieties. He shares tips on how one can breed guppies at home easily.