Five good things happening in India this week
Namaste, and welcome back to Today’s India. This week we travel from a Chennai office tower to a Srinagar workshop, meeting people who fix quiet problems with patience.
1. Two Chennai engineers have helped save 5 billion litres of water
EarthFokus, a startup incubated at IIT Madras and founded in 2019 by Arun Subramanian and Rishi Vandan, has helped more than 130 commercial buildings save over five billion litres of water. Its tools include IoT flow meters with AI that spot hidden leaks, a system that recovers water from cooling towers, and low-flow fixtures.
Their first product brought a tap’s flow down to as little as 0.5 litres a minute, against 10 to 12 litres for a regular tap. At WeWork India, consumption reportedly fell from 45 to 29 litres per person per day. “We end up using more than what we need because we take water for granted,” says Rishi.
2. Drones carried food and medicine to 1,000 people in flood-hit Assam
When floods cut off villages in Upper Assam, Drones Tech Lab, a company incubated at IIT Guwahati, flew in food, water and medicines. Its drones reached more than 1,000 people across three districts, including Sivasagar, where even boats struggled in the shallow water. Each flight carried around 5 kg over about 5 km.
The team was on the ground within 24 hours, and aerial surveys helped find people waiting on rooftops. “They had actually lost hope of receiving relief because they had no access to it,” says co-founder Ritesh Kanu.
3. At 75, Kashmir’s last Mukh maker is still carving
In Srinagar’s Amda Kadal Jogiwan, Abdul Majeed Zargar has spent nearly five decades hand-carving the Mukh, the small wooden shuttle used to weave Pashmina. He is believed to be the last person in Kashmir who still makes them.
When he started, most workshops turned him away. Then a group of experienced craftsmen bought three pairs, pointed out his flaws, and quietly recommended him to other weavers. He later found those first pairs unused. “If we had not bought them, you would have lost hope,” they told him. Today he is teaching his son. “As long as I can hold my tools, I will keep making them,” he says.
Abdul Majeed Zargar’s career began with one good word passed from weaver to weaver. Plenty of skilled people still live that way: the tailor everyone trusts, the maths tutor with no spare evenings, the fitness coach whose clients bring their friends.
OpenMap gives local businesses, tutors, coaches and trainers their own page and AI agent, so people (and the AI assistants they use) can find them and send them requests. It is launching in London first.
If you know craftspeople, tutors or coaches who deserve to be found more easily, in London or wherever your circle reaches, we would love your help introducing them. Become an OpenMap partner
4. Aarey’s Warli women went from 27 sewing machines to factory jobs
In 2015, a skills programme in three villages of Mumbai’s Aarey Forest gave Warli Adivasi women 27 sewing machines. Today many of them work in factories in Andheri’s MIDC, on regular salaries with provident fund and medical cards, and a bus takes them to work and back.
Shubhangi Rohakar, 35, earns a salary of Rs 20,000. “It’s the first time in my life that I am getting a PF,” she says. Renuka’s medical card, at Rs 190 a month, now covers her husband and daughter.
5. Bengal’s “Foodman” now runs 20+ free learning centres
Nearly ten years ago, college professor Chandrashekhar Kundu saw a little girl eating thrown-away biryani while her brother kept stray dogs away. He began feeding children, nearly 180 of them across three villages, many from families working in stone quarries or as daily-wage labourers.
He soon felt meals alone were not enough. His initiative, Boi Toi Hoi Chai, added free coaching with help from local teachers and volunteers, and now runs more than 20 learning centres across West Bengal while still serving meals.
If one of these stories made you smile, forward this email to someone who could use some good news today. See you in the next edition.
Team Today’s India