Cultivating better lives of villagers in Kumaon

The idea is to promote the use of indigo dyeing and enable farmers to earn an extra income

This September, villagers in remote Kumaoni hamlets rejoiced as they harvested a plant with bluish green leaves. With a short growth cycle of 78 days, the plant fixed nitrogen in the soil, replenishing it for the next crop. Moreover, they earned as much as Rs 30,000 from the harvested Indigofera — source of the blue dye India was once known worldwide for. 

All this was due to the efforts of Avani Kumaon, a grassroot organisation that has been working since 1997 to improve rural lives and livelihoods using sustainable technologies. Co-founded by Rashmi Bharti and Rajnish Jain, Avani was initially