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Cooperatives and Rural Development with Syamkrishnan P Aryan

In the second episode of The WELL Labs Show, host Pavan Srinath sits down with Syamkrishnan P Aryan, Senior Program Manager at WELL Labs, to unpack the world of cooperatives in India.

Dec 4, 2025

In the second episode of The WELL Labs Show, host Pavan Srinath sits down with Syamkrishnan P Aryan, Senior Program Manager at WELL Labs, to unpack the world of cooperatives – from Amul’s legendary three-tier model to the future of digital platform cooperatives in India.

In this episode, Syam shares how milk producers in Anand challenged exploitative supply chains and created the Amul movement, why cooperatives succeed when they stay member-centric, and how cooperative principles can help rural India transition towards more sustainable, resilient and diverse agrarian livelihoods.

 

Pavan Srinath is Managing Partner, Communications and Development at WELL Labs. Pavan is a communications and public policy professional who has spent over 14 years working in Bangalore’s not-for-profit sector.

Syamkrishnan P Aryan is the Program Manager with the Rural Futures programme at WELL Labs. He has around 8+ years of experience in working with governments, social enterprises, Civil Society Organisations, cooperatives and start-ups, including over three years of product management experience in the dairy-tech sector.

If you are curious about Amul, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), platform cooperatives, dairy systems, rural economies, or India’s agricultural transformation, this episode is for you.

Profiles:

  1. Pavan Srinath: LinkedIn, WELL Labs Website
  2. Syamkrishnan Aryan: LinkedIn, WELL Labs Website

The WELL Labs Show features rich conversations on water, environment, land and livelihoods, from the people and partners of WELL Labs. Hosted by Pavan Srinath, each episode explores complex environmental and social issues and helps you understand systems and dynamics better.

Subscribe to The WELL Labs show on the WELL Labs YouTube channel. 

Recording by Nanditha Gogate and Nabina Chakraborty  

Video editing by Vraj Acharya

Graphics and artwork by Aparna Nambiar

Podcast production and management by Nabina Chakraborty and Pavan Srinath

 

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