Coronavirus: Mahindra factories replace plates with banana leaves to help struggling farmers

The total number of coronavirus cases in India stands at 9,240 as of Monday, according to Worldometers. With cases soaring each day and a 21-day lockdown being enforced since March 25, many economic issues such as job loss and loss of farm produce, etc. have affected the lives of many small farmers, businessmen, and daily wage workers. 

According to the World Bank, South Asia will witness the greatest economic slowdown in the last four decades, resulting from the global pandemic. 

On April 9, Anand Mahindra, Industrialist and Chairman of Mahindra Group, resolved to replace the plates at his factory’s canteen with banana leaves. In doing so, Mahindra’s factories would pledge support to the struggling banana farmers of India, who are having a hard time selling their produce since the lockdown. 

“The initiative was taken upon the suggestion of senior journalist Padma Ramnath, who said that it would help the banana farmers struggling to sell their produce,” Mahindra said as reported by The Logical Indian.

Padma Ramnath, a retired journalist mailed this suggestion to Mahindra personally, to which he proactively responded on Twitter, tweeting pictures of the factory workers enjoying their meals served on banana leaves. 

"His proactive factory teams instantly worked on the idea, and replaced plates with banana leaves in their canteens,” NDTV reported.

At present, Mahindra’s tweet has garnered 11.6k retweets and 72.6k likes, and has received appreciation for the kind gesture and thoughtful resolution.

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Additionally, Anand Mahindra also affirmed that the Mahindra Group’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) team would create a fund to help those stakeholders that have been most negatively affected. The Mahindra Foundation’s fund will also help small businesses and self-employed individuals. 

Mahindra also added that further additions to the fund will soon follow, and he has also been urging other individuals from various sectors to come together and voluntarily contribute to the cause.

Earlier in March, Mahindra had also pledged 100 percent of his salary towards relief work related to coronavirus in India. Further, it is also helping produce ventilators, that would cost Rs 7,500, which otherwise would cost about Rs 10 lakh, at its Kandivali and Igatpuri factories. Apart from that, the company is also helping produce protective face masks for healthcare workers. 

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