A mail turns all plates into banana leaves in Mahindra factories
Among various sectors that are badly hit by the COVID-19 lockdown is the agricultural sector. Being unable to sell their produces, farmers across the nation have been witnessing them ending up in the dump.
That was when a retired journalist wrote an e-mail to Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra suggesting him to use banana leaves, rather than plates to serve food to the workers at his factories.
A retired journalist, Padma Ramnath mailed me out of the blue & suggested that if our canteens used banana leaves as plates, it would help struggling banana farmers who were having trouble selling their produce. Our proactive factory teams acted instantly on the idea…Thank you! pic.twitter.com/ouUx7xfMdK
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) April 9, 2020
“Out of the blue,” he calls the mail from Padma Ramnath, whose idea was implemented immediately. Mahindra shared on Twitter the pictures of his workers relishing the meal served on banana leaves.
It is a win-win situation for both farmers and Anand Mahindra as the move would have stabilised the farmers economically to an extent during the crisis, while the workers too would have felt satisfied of having a meal in traditional style.
Within hours after Mahindra posted the tweet, it got thousands of likes and retweets. Many have praised Mahindra on the micro-blogging site for the noble act. While many said it was very eco-friendly and would save a lot of water, some suggested that the waste leaves could be given to cows or recycled as compost.