Krishi Swaraj is India's first national branding challenge dedicated to one mission — making farming the profession every young Indian is proud to choose. Not by changing farming. By changing how India sees it.
Farming feeds every single person in this country. 1.4 billion people. Every meal. Every day. And yet if you ask a parent what they want their child to become, "farmer" will not appear on that list. Not because farming is bad — because farming has never been told well.
Think about what advertising did for software engineering. For medicine. For startups. A generation of films, ads, and cultural stories made these professions look exciting, modern, and worth choosing. Farming never got that story.
The result? 3,000 farmers leave agriculture every single day — not because the soil stopped producing, but because the story stopped inspiring.
We're inviting India's best advertisers, designers, and storytellers to build the campaign that gives farming its dignity back.
If your words can sell soap — can they also help save the soil?
Your work has the potential to transform the lives of millions of farmers. We believe that impact is priceless — no cheque or trophy can truly recognise work of this significance. We want to honour every creative with a lasting symbol of the lives their work has touched.
Carrying handwritten messages and wishes from farming families.
In a traditional Thotti Mane in Melukote and Pandavapura.
A Badge of Honor — a reminder that your creativity was used for something larger than commerce.
Each track is a different way to change how Karnataka — and eventually India — sees farming.
For decades, farming has been portrayed as a profession of struggle. If farming launched as a profession today, how would we market it? Build the film that makes people proud of farmers the way they're proud of every other profession.
Most children grow up dreaming of technology, medicine, engineering. Very few dream of becoming agricultural entrepreneurs. Can we change what a child imagines when they think of a farm?
Parents prefer engineers. Marriage prospects shift. Farming is treated as a fallback. Why doesn't society treat farming as a profession — and can we challenge that head-on?
Thousands leave villages every year for low-paying jobs, gig work, informal labour. Can agriculture and rural entrepreneurship become attractive enough to bring them back?
We're calling for applications now. Detailed dates and next steps will be announced to selected teams.
Agencies, studios, freelance creatives, and student teams apply through a simple form. One requirement: a genuine point of view on the problem.
Selected teams receive the full brief and build their campaign across the four tracks.
Teams present their work to the Foundation and jury. Winning ideas move forward.
The Puttannaiah Foundation will ensure the winning ideas move beyond presentations:
Winning work is taken forward as a real, live campaign.
Tested directly with farmers and communities.
A final presentation and recognition in Pandavapura.
If any of these is you, you already have a point of view worth hearing.
You work at an advertising agency or design studio.
You're a freelance creative, filmmaker, or designer.
You're a student in mass communication, design, or journalism.
Three commitments every participant, sponsor, and partner signs before the event begins.
Farmers are skilled professionals running complex enterprises — not subjects of sympathy. Any work that makes farming look like suffering rather than strength is disqualified.
Sponsors fund the mission. They do not shape the creative. No piece of work promotes a product — it promotes farming as a profession.
Every real farmer shown in any submission must have given explicit consent to be featured. The Foundation maintains this standard for all distributed work.
Applications are open to agencies, studios, freelancers, and teams across India. The only requirement: a genuine point of view on the problem.
Organised by Puttannaiah Foundation · Melukote, Mandya · Final presentation in Pandavapura
Be a part of our journey to empower farmers and transform rural communities. Fill out the form to get involved!