Our Story
It all began when our founder, like countless others, returned to his native village during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. As the pandemic swept across the country, killing people and their livelihoods, the particularly worsening situation in rural India caught his attention.
He saw the plight of migrants, and the distress of farmers who were thoroughly unprepared and without any safety net. As the rural population burgeoned, without a stable source of income, it led to malnutrition as people often compromised on quantity and quality of food.
The problems didn't stop there, petty crimes in rural areas also increased due to joblessness and financial distress. Instances of conflicts, robberies, and domestic violence emerged in many areas.
In the backdrop of this grim situation, our founder realized that the only way of tackling these problems was to create a sustainable ecosystem that not only created colossal employment but also made nutritious food available to the masses at affordable prices. After considering many options, he decided that Food Processing Industry would be an Ideal way to solve these problems.
He set out to do this by consulting nutritionists, agricultural scientists, doctors and naturopathic experts to create a product. And when their scientific research was brought together with the traditional wisdom of villagers, IndiJan came into existence .
About IndiJan
IndiJan is the first brand for Functional food products which are naturally fortified, and food processing unit of Swadesham-A rural alternative university. It is established with the aim of launching “Naturally fortified food or Functional food” products that will be the first step in creating a virtuous cycle of organic production, nutritious food and a healthy population. IndiJan has two clearly defined goals. Firstly, to create gainful employment for the
rural population near their homes eliminating the need for migrating to far flung areas. This becomes all the more important when we consider that the majority of the population in India
lives in rural areas. Secondly, to raise the abysmally low nutritional standards of the people.
Most of the chronic diseases, lifestyle diseases that we see today is the result of long term food/eating patterns of people. IndiJan want to steer the evolution of food patterns in a way that
will improve our immune system and protect us from not only current illnesses but also the future unknown diseases that might spread.
Problems
● The model that the IndiJan creates seeks to solve the problems of all the important stakeholders of the rural economy.
● Small Farmers and producers: Their inability to get a fair price for the produce and lack of bargaining power.
● Small scale manufacturers: Inability to scale up their business due to inadequate marketing and branding opportunities
● Of the society, In general: The nutritional deficiency of the low income group.
These problems will be solved by IndiJan through both the production process and the products
Solutions
● IndiJans seek to establish an umbrella brand for both the farmers and the small scale manufacturers.
● Farmers can directly sell their produce without the intermediaries and can get a fair price for the produce. There will be Sale and Procurement centers established for catering to
such needs.
● We have created a decentralized production process through various small scale producers in rural areas. As an umbrella organization, we will facilitate their branding, marketing and help them innovate in their manufacturing process resulting in better products and larger returns. An apex institution will work on capacity building of farmers helping them with post harvest operations and also of manufacturers, helping them with quality improvement, packaging, marketing etc.
● And the last stage of our solution is our product: By producing nutritious food grains at an affordable price through a careful mix of latest science and traditional wisdom, we hope to reduce the nutritional deficit among lower income groups.