The builder's path
For: Paddy farmers in Punjab can't see how close their mandi is to its new procurement target before they bring their crop in.
“The true creator is necessity, which is the mother of our invention.”
Routes to a solution
Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in Punjab.
Step 1
Join an impact incubator
Shape a model that pays for itself without excluding the people who need it.
Incubator for social enterprises in health, agriculture and livelihoods.
Lab-to-market platform for science and technology aimed at social problems.
Patient capital and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.
The national startup programme: recognition, schemes and a directory of incubators.
Step 2
Raise patient capital
Impact funds and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.
Incubator for social enterprises in health, agriculture and livelihoods.
Lab-to-market platform for science and technology aimed at social problems.
Incubator and investor at IIM Ahmedabad, with impact programmes.
Patient capital and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.
Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.
Punjab's online foodgrain procurement system for mandis and agencies.
Its president questioned the rationale for mandi-wise limits on an MSP-supported crop.
Directed districts to calculate and communicate the mandi targets.
Runs the purchase centres and receives the targets.
Starter prompt
Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.
Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in Sangrur, Punjab, India. Problem: Paddy farmers in Punjab can't see how close their mandi is to its new procurement target before they bring their crop in. Who it hurts: Farmers growing non-Basmati paddy in Punjab, and the arhtiyas (commission agents) who handle their sales at each purchase centre. The moment it hurts: A tractor-trolley of harvested paddy is ready, and the farmer has to choose a mandi without knowing whether it has already reached the quantity it was assigned. What people do today: Farmers rely on arhtiyas and word of mouth; the mandi-wise targets were sent to agencies and officials through a proforma, not published for farmers. Why it is still unsolved: Targets are based on each centre's three-year average, but this year's crop is bigger, and nobody shows farmers live arrivals against the target, so the risk shows up only once they are already at the gate. What solved looks like: A public board, by mandi, showing the assigned target, arrivals and purchases so far and the share remaining, updated daily, with alerts when a centre nears its limit and a list of nearby centres with room. Where: Sangrur, Punjab, India First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions. Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use. Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
Talk to the people who live it before you build.
“Truth is one; the wise speak of it in many ways.”
एकं सद्विप्रा बहुधा वदन्ति
ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadanti
Get a working version in front of people fast.
Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.
“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Open data that fits this problem.
“You cannot step twice into the same river.”
Tools matched to what this problem needs.
“Act, keeping in view the welfare of the world.”
लोकसंग्रहमेवापि सम्पश्यन्कर्तुमर्हसि
lokasaṅgraham evāpi sampaśyan kartum arhasi
Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.
“Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth.”
δός μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω
Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.