Abhishek Singha, an Assam-based social activist and founder of the NGO All & Sundry, has built a rare model of social entrepreneurship that uses a food business to fund humanitarian work. Launched on July 14, 2024, Pustimaan Millets sells climate‑friendly, gluten‑free millets — including barnyard millet, finger millet and sorghum — and channels five per cent of profits from every packet into programmes aimed at tackling anaemia and malnutrition among women and children in vulnerable communities. Singha says the venture links farmers’ livelihoods, traditional nutrition and grassroots social support in one cycle of impact.
Singha’s approach grew from years spent working with small and marginal farmers across rural Assam, where he saw crop losses, uncertain incomes and limited market access. “I always knew that someday I wanted to do something in agriculture,” he says. Before Pustimaan reached shelves, he organised awareness sessions, workshops and tasting events in colleges and public spaces to reintroduce millets as everyday, nutritious food for dishes such as khichdi and upma.
Pustimaan’s products have reached customers in Assam as well as Delhi and Haryana, but Singha measures success in social outcomes rather than sales. “The real ‘profit’ for us goes beyond numbers. It is measured in the number of people we are able to support, the farmers we are able to empower, and the awareness we create about healthier living,” he says. Five per cent of profits support All & Sundry’s humanitarian initiatives, with a major share directed at nutrition and menstrual health campaigns in rural areas.
Long before Pustimaan, Singha launched a focused menstrual health initiative, The White Revolution Campaign, in 2017 through All & Sundry. The campaign targets stigma and practical gaps in menstrual hygiene across villages, tea garden communities and remote areas including parts of Karbi Anglong. Disturbed by girls skipping school during menstruation and women silently suffering infections, Singha chose a smaller, hands‑on model: sessions with 20–30 women at a time and distribution of three‑month hygiene kits that include sanitary pads, soap, detergent, shampoo and towels.
The White Revolution’s training is practical and rooted in local realities. Women learn how to use sanitary products, affordable period‑friendly diets and safe disposal practices. “If we tell them to eat expensive foods, it becomes impractical. So, we suggest things they can actually afford, like sesame seed laddoos, which cost around Rs 10 to Rs 20,” Singha explains. His team also teaches safer disposal methods, including burial with lime where appropriate, and distributes Pustimaan millet packets during awareness sessions to address nutrition alongside hygiene.
Singha traces his commitment to service back to his childhood in Golaghat and an early impression left by stories of humanitarian figures. He founded All & Sundry in 2012 at age 23 without external funding, often financing projects himself with small sums. Recognition arrived slowly — from candlelight rallies in Guwahati to relief work after the 2015 Nepal earthquake and an appreciation note from chef Sanjeev Kapoor — but his focus remains local, practical and person‑centred.
For Singha, enterprise is a means to sustain social work: “So, while there may be financial ups and downs, the purpose has always remained steady, to build something that nourishes both people and society.”
Original Source: https://www.indiatodayne.in/assam/story/how-an-assam-activist-turned-millet-entrepreneurship-into-a-mission-for-social-change-1391187-2026-05-13?utm_source=rssfeed
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Publish Date: 2026-05-13 18:55:00
