One Earth, One Heart

Key numbers at a glance

All figures are as stated in One Earth, One Heart: Amala Bharatam Campaign, with chapter references.

7,600+major clean-up drives worldwideCh. 3
2.1 lakhbags of waste removed at Sabarimala by 20,000+ volunteers (2011 to 2017)Ch. 5
10 millionreusable kerchiefs distributed to stop public spittingCh. 4
15,000toilets pledged under Swachh BharatCh. 13
4.5 lakh+people served by Jivamritam water filtersCh. 12
2.9 millionSaukhyam reusable banana-fibre pads soldCh. 14
2 million+seedballs dispersed by 200,000+ participantsCh. 15
1 million+Casuarina trees planted on the Alappad coastCh. 15

More numbers

2010campaign launched, 27 September, on Amma's 57th birthdayCh. 2
9Rs in the ABC-9R frameworkCh. 2
5,100volunteers in the 2011 Sabarimala clean-upCh. 5
50,000bags of waste removed at Sabarimala in three daysCh. 5
6,000waste bins placed across KeralaCh. 4
3,000bicycles for zero-carbon waste collectionCh. 4
3,000waste collectors paid ₹1,000 a month eachCh. 4
₹100 croredonated for toilets along the Ganga (Namami Gange)Ch. 3
₹100 croreJivamritam clean water programmeCh. 12
₹85 croreCOVID relief through AmritaSREE, delivered in saree bagsCh. 14
58+waste categories segregated at Amrita's waste centresCh. 7
800 kgcompost produced daily at Amritapuri campusCh. 7
4 lakh Lsewage treated and reused daily on campusCh. 7
10,000meals cooked daily at Amritapuri without firewoodCh. 8
5 lakhvisitors handled zero-waste at AmritavarshamCh. 11
3 lakh+saplings gifted through VishuthaineettamCh. 15
4 MWrooftop solar across 100+ institutionsCh. 16
82ashrams in 19 countriesCh. 6

About the campaign

Cleanliness as seva. Sustainability as dharma.

The Amala Bharatam Campaign: how a call to sweep our streets became a global movement to clean land, water, air and the human heart.

In 2010, Amma (Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi) launched the Amala Bharatam Campaign (ABC), the Clean India initiative, on her 57th birthday. What began as volunteers cleaning roadsides and pilgrimage sites grew into a movement that has run more than 7,600 major clean-up drives, restored the Pampa River at Sabarimala, and turned Amrita's campuses and hospitals into zero-waste models.

At its heart is the ABC-9R framework: Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Repurpose, Recycle, Recover and Restore. Cleanliness here is not only a civic duty. It is seva, an offering to Mother Earth.

Amalamfree from all impurities

Bharatamto shine in the light

Amala Bharatam is a call for a clean India that also shines from within.

Clean surroundings, clean minds.
From a broom to a movement.
Cleanliness as seva. Sustainability as dharma.

Amma bending to gather waste into a bag alongside volunteers — Amma joins volunteers at a clean-up.

Explore

The campaign, page by page

Amma with devotees at the seashore at dusk

The Story

Why Amma started the campaign in 2010.

Read the story →

Volunteers sorting waste at the Amritapuri recycling centre

The 9R Framework

The nine Rs, four levels and the empowerment model.

See the framework →

Volunteers celebrating in the Pampa River

Impact Stories

The Kerala model, Sabarimala and clean-ups across the world.

Read the stories →

Institutions

Amritapuri, campuses, schools, hospitals and mega events.

Go to institutions →

Villagers collecting water from a Jivamritam filter unit

Innovations

Water, sanitation, coconut and waste-to-wealth products.

See innovations →

Earth and Climate

Youth, culture, tree planting and carbon savings.

Go to Earth and Climate →

Rendering of a roadside community park with toilets along a highway

Vision and Recognition

Leadership, recommendations, awards, quotes, the book and author.

See the vision →

Next: The Story →

The story

How it began

A conversation in Amma's room in 2010 became a movement that would touch millions.

In 2010, back from her tours of Australia and Europe, Amma spoke about a newly published book that described Indians spitting and urinating by the roadside. "We may call this God's Own Country," she said, "but when it comes to hygiene, we are far behind many other nations." India had become an atomic power and a growing economy, yet its roads, toilets and public spaces told another story.

Amma traced the problem to a shift in identity, from "we and ours" to "I and mine". Homes were kept clean, but waste was dumped just beyond the doorstep. Two days later, Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri met with ashram residents and the name Amala Bharatam was chosen.

Who was there: Br. Saranamrita Chaitanya, one of the brahmacharinis in Amma's room that day, describes these words as "the spark of Amala Bharatam". From the start Amma framed cleanliness as seva, and asked each person to take a simple vow: clean and maintain your own premises. The Math offered to build toilets and place bins in government schools and along public roads wherever governments cooperated.

How it is run: decentralised action by volunteers, with central guidance and examples set at the Amritapuri headquarters.

It is said that India is growing... India is an atomic power... However, in matters of environmental cleanliness and hygiene, we are lagging by centuries. In terms of cleanliness, we still are in diapers.
Amma, the words that started it (Ch. 1)

Garbage piled along a roadside — Waste dumped along a roadside.

Cattle grazing on an open dumpsite — An open dumpsite.

Timeline

2008Amma begins a cleanliness drive at the Mata Amritanandamayi Math, Amritapuri.
27 September 2010Amala Bharatam Campaign formally launched on Amma's 57th birthday.
2011Amma inaugurates ABC in cities on her India tour, from Coimbatore and Bengaluru to Mumbai, Jaipur and Delhi, and asks everyone to clean near their homes every fourth Sunday.
November 2011The Sabarimala and Pampa River clean-up.
2018Amma joins the Prime Minister by video for the 4th anniversary of Swachhata Hi Seva; volunteers clean a 6 km coastal stretch near Amritapuri.
TodayA global movement across India and dozens of countries, led by volunteers, students and the youth wing AYUDH.

Three core objectives

Practical action for cleanliness, hygiene, waste segregation and proper disposal.
Awareness of why environmental cleanliness matters.
Community-scale waste models that can restore degraded ecosystems.

Amma at a public programme surrounded by devotees — Amma at a public programme.

Next: The 9R Framework →

The ABC-9R framework

Nine Rs, four levels

The world's 3R model (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) manages materials but not mindsets. Amma's 9R framework starts with awareness, before waste exists, and ends with restoring what has been damaged.

          Level 1Prevent waste
          RethinkReconsider product design and consumptionCleanliness reframed as seva and dharma
RefuseSay no to unnecessary productsPlastic-free drives, no disposables in dining halls
ReduceMinimise resource use and wasteMeals planned to avoid leftovers; hostel food waste down about 30%

          Level 2Extend life
          ReuseUse products many timesSteel plates serving 10,000+ meals a day
RepairFix instead of discardIn-house carpentry, plumbing and electrical workshops
RepurposeGive items a new functionOld sarees into bags; tyres into furniture

          Level 3Manage waste
          RecycleTurn waste into new materialsPlastic into blocks and tiles
RecoverExtract energy or nutrientsBiogas and compost from kitchen waste

          Level 4Heal
          RestoreRegenerate ecosystemsPampa River clean-up, landfill bioremediation, tree planting

What makes it different

Starts with awareness, not waste.
Treats cleanliness as dharma and spiritual practice.
Bridges science and spirituality.
Goes beyond recycling to restoration.
Scales from one household to global campaigns.
Community-led and multi-stakeholder, not top-down.

How it is applied

Community readiness assessment
Empowerment assessment
Phases of empowerment, from "power within" to "power with"
The 9R strategies

Outcomes go beyond waste reduction to products, livelihoods and entrepreneurship.

The empowerment model

Lasting change begins with people, not infrastructure.

The report argues that technology alone fails when power relations stay unchanged. The ABC-9R journey moves people through three kinds of power.

Power within

An individual's confidence and belief that their actions matter.

Power with

Collective strength through trust and shared purpose.

Power over, reoriented

Institutions using authority to enable, not control.

Three stages of the 9Rs (Ch. 17)

Prevention: Rethink, Refuse, Reduce
Extension: Reuse, Repair, Repurpose, Recycle
Regeneration: Recover, Restore

Readiness checks before any project

Knowledge of the issue
Awareness of existing efforts
Resources
Community norms
Leadership support

How it spreads: the change-agent model

Amma trains her inner circle first; they become change agents in Amrita's hospitals, universities and schools; they in turn train devotees, villages, NGOs and officials. Control is light and decentralised; the shared ethic keeps it coherent.

Next: Impact Stories →

Impact stories

From one ashram to every continent

Local to global

From one ashram to every continent.

Volunteers carried Amma's call into their own cities and countries, forming local groups and adapting the model to each culture. More than 7,600 major clean-up drives have followed. Wherever Amma travels in India, she gathers the 600 or so volunteers in her convoy to clean the surrounding area.

India highlights

Kolkata, 2013: During darshan, Amma called for an overnight clean-up of 15 km of Budge Budge Trunk Road. She joined at midnight; by dawn the road was spotless.
Kerchief etiquette, Mangalore 2013: Handkerchiefs printed with Amala Bharatam messages given to schoolchildren to stop spitting; the habit spread to five states.
Ganga: ₹100 crore donated for toilets in the poorest villages along the Ganga, supporting Swachh Bharat and Namami Gange.
Civic support: Endorsements from Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, the Maharashtra Governor, Jaipur's mayor and actress Vidya Balan, among others.
Villages: In Gudipadu Cheruvu (Andhra Pradesh) waste segregation rose 40% in a year; in Bihar's Bhojpur district volunteers lived with the Mushahar community to build hygiene and dignity.

Amma and volunteers filling sacks with waste — Amma leads volunteers at a clean-up drive.

Amma handing kerchiefs to schoolchildren — Reusable kerchiefs handed to schoolchildren.

Around the world

Country	What happened
France	AYUDH "Trees for Peace" (2017): native trees, clean-ups, water and soil care
Ireland	GreenFriends planted 7,000+ native trees; zero-waste pilgrimages
Germany and Switzerland	Zero-waste gatherings, Rhine litter-picks, permaculture at MA Center Switzerland
Italy	Bergamo riverbed clean-up (2014)
Russia	Volunteers care for St. Petersburg's Botanical Garden (7,500+ species)
Americas	Since 2015, 13 AYUDH chapters in Canada, the US, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela and Chile: 1,090 trees planted, 1,360+ kg of trash removed, 500+ vegetable plants grown and 400 seedlings shared (AYUDH Grow), 600 sanitation bags and 610 hygiene kits (AYUDH Replenish), USD 6,136 and 6,950 items donated (AYUDH Give); helped bring sustainability into the University of Maryland medical curriculum
Australia	5,000+ native trees after the 2019 to 2020 bushfires; AUD 1,300+ raised from container recycling
Philippines	Pasig River and Estero de Paco rehabilitation, Manila (2011)
Fiji	Suva seafront: 60 bags of rubbish in two hours (2012)
Japan	Monthly Tokyo clean-ups since 2010
New Zealand	Beach and waterway clean-ups with Auckland Council
Mauritius and Kenya	Among the earliest youth clean-ups (2009)

Volunteers at Hof Herrenberg ashram, Germany — Volunteers at Hof Herrenberg, Germany.

Volunteers after planting native trees — Native tree planting in Europe.

AYUDH youth group outdoors after a clean-up — AYUDH youth after a clean-up.

Cleaning a whole state, one 2 km stretch at a time.

By the early 2010s, Kerala's waste crisis was a crisis of trust: people stopped segregating because the system downstream failed. Amma's answer was to break the state into small, locally owned units and to make responsibility visible.

How it worked

Committees every 2 km, formed by local volunteers, shopkeepers and residents.
6,000 large bins bought by the Math, planned at 2 km intervals along the 600 km highway from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod and in local communities.
3,000 bicycles for collection: zero-carbon logistics, about one hour every two days per volunteer.
Paid, dignified work: ₹1,000 a month for about 15 hours, for 3,000 people (₹3 million a month in all).
Recycling: compost from organics; plastic into blocks and small boats; old sarees into AmritaSREE bags.
Behaviour change: street plays and 10 million reusable kerchiefs given to schoolchildren, workers and bus passengers.

Volunteer with a bicycle beside waste bins — Bicycles and bins: zero-carbon waste collection.

Volunteers performing a street play on waste — Street plays by ABC volunteers.

Students in aprons segregating waste — Amrita University students segregating waste.

A governance model where authority feels humane, systems feel fair, and responsibility feels possible.
One Earth, One Heart, Ch. 4

Lessons the report is honest about

The first pilot, Amritapuri to Karunagappally, drew strong support, but some bins were misused, and the Public Works Department did not grant permission for bins along the national highway. The conclusion: community action lasts only with government partnership.

The fire in a multi-storey building

Amma's parable: the upper floors ignore the cries from below, until the fire reaches them. The Earth is our shared home.

Printed page of Amma's message to ABC volunteers in Malayalam — Amma's message to the volunteers, "Darling Children...", reproduced in the report (Ch. 4).

More detail

Studies cited in the report say more than 70% of Indians spit in public without realising the health risk; the kerchief drive targeted this.
The first pilot covered about 10 sq km from Amritapuri to Karunagappally, then extended to Oachira and neighbouring areas.
Shopkeepers, households and even poultry farmers joined committees; some offered land for waste sites.
The model was tested with more than 7,000 volunteers across initiatives.
Amma sent a handwritten Malayalam letter thanking the volunteers ("Darling Children..."), reproduced in the report.

UN SDG links

SDG 3 Good Health: kerchiefs
SDG 8 Decent Work: 3,000 paid jobs
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities: 2 km committees
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption: 9R recycling
SDG 13 Climate Action: bicycles not trucks
SDG 17 Partnerships: Math, communities, government

Sabarimala and the Pampa River

Restoring the sanctity of one of the world's largest pilgrimages.

Sabarimala sits inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve and draws over 5.5 crore (55 million) pilgrims a year. By 2011, decades of plastic, food waste and discarded clothes lined the Pampa River and forest trails; elephants on the Pampa to Laha road had died after eating plastic-wrapped food. Kerala's Chief Secretary and the Travancore Devaswom Board asked Amma for help.

First create a system.
Amma's first instruction for Sabarimala

Elephants on a pile of discarded clothes and plastic — Elephants feeding on a pile of discarded clothes and plastic.

The scale

5,100 volunteers, aged 18 to 80, from India and abroad (verified list submitted to the government)
64-acre Sannidhanam split into 16 zones, plus the 5 km forest trek and the 50 km Pampa to Laha road
Started at dawn on 5 November 2011; 50,000+ bags of waste removed in three days
2011 to 2017: 20,000+ volunteers, 2.1 lakh+ bags

Volunteers in orange vests hauling sacks of waste — Volunteers haul sacks of waste at Sabarimala.

Seven phases

Permissions and stakeholder alignment
Baseline survey and waste mapping
Zoning and operational planning
Readiness: repaired quarters, kitchens, doctors and anti-venom from Amrita Hospital, five trucks of gear
Volunteer mobilisation (5 a.m. prayers, work stops at 5 p.m. for wildlife safety) and segregation
Execution plus repairs: a sewage outlet into the Pampa fixed, 15 to 20 year old ghee-coated rooms cleaned, drinking water taps installed to cut plastic bottles
Awareness, documentation and policy

Before and after

Before: discarded clothes heaped on the river steps

Before: waste covering ground beside buildings

Before: waste spread across a field near huts

Thousands of volunteers cleared tonnes of garbage and restored these spaces under Amma's guidance (Ch. 5).

Outcomes

Kerala CM Oommen Chandy launched the government's Zero Waste Project for Sabarimala on the final day (2011).
Sabarimala declared a plastic-free zone (2018); throwing clothes into the Pampa banned.
Bio-toilets, water refill stations and steel utensils introduced; Kerala State Pollution Control Board monitoring; reduced microbial contamination in the Pampa.

We worked hard to clean this place.
A student, stopping her mother from throwing a wrapper out of the car after the clean-up. Told by Swami Tapasyamritananda Puri.

Volunteers clearing waste from the Pampa riverbed — Clearing the Pampa riverbed.

Sabarimala temple with pilgrims — Sabarimala, in the Western Ghats.

More detail

Setting: temple at about 4,133 ft (1,250 m), surrounded by 18 forested hills; pilgrims keep a 41-day vratha and bathe in the Pampa before the 5 km climb.
Leaders: Swami Gurupadasrtananda Puri and Swami Tapasyamritananda Puri led the effort under Amma; swaminis led the Pampa riverside work.
Inauguration: the temple's Chief Priest personally handed cleaning tools to the volunteers.
Sites cleaned: Koprakkalam, Malikappuram, Nadappanthal, Panditthavalam and Bhasmakkulam; volunteers formed human chains on steep slopes and used ropes on rooftops.
Waste handling: organics composted on site, soft plastics bundled for recycling, an unused hard-plastic crushing machine revived, hazardous waste removed separately.
Continuity: annual off-season clean-ups, a proposed operating model for the Sabarimala Sanitation Society, and the Punyam Poonkavanam programme.
Amma's care: she phoned at dawn from abroad to ask whether volunteers had tea, boots and gloves.

Next: Institutions →

Institutions

Living laboratories of zero waste

Amritapuri ashram

Living laboratories of zero waste.

In the early days Amma swept up waste herself. By 1999 the ashram ran a 3R system; today six recycling stations, a central Recycling Centre with sorting by bhajan-singing volunteers, and a composting centre at Kuzhithura serve 3,000+ residents and thousands of daily visitors. As the institutions grew (82 ashrams in 19 countries, 11 university campuses, 90+ schools), new waste streams such as e-waste and biomedical waste led to the move from 3R to 9R.

Amrita Waste Management and Composting Centre entrance — Amrita Waste Management and Composting Centre.

Worker sorting plastics — Sorting at a Sustainable Solid Waste Management Centre.

Amrita campuses: closing the loop

Measure	Figure
Waste categories segregated	58+
Solid waste processed per campus	300 to 1,000 kg a day
Compost made at Amritapuri	800 kg a day
Plastic reused each year	about 3 tonnes
Sewage treated and reused	4 lakh litres a day (30% flushing, 70% irrigation)
Rainwater recharged	3.6 crore litres a year
Solar generation	7.7 lakh units a year, saving ₹65 lakh
Energy savings 2022 to 2024	₹1.36 crore
Annual cost saving from waste centre	₹43.8 lakh

Every campus follows a no-septic-tank policy, and vegetables grown with treated water go to campus kitchens.

More campus detail

Context: India's Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 made institutions responsible for their own waste; Amrita set up Sustainable Solid Waste Management Centres on every campus.
Composting: food waste collected three times a day, dewatered for 12 hours, rack-composted 15 days, windrow-composted 30 days. Compost NPK: 0.5% N, 0.18% P, 0.22% K.
Also processed: 120 kg of sanitary napkins a day.
Water: rainwater storage of 19 million litres; 1.5 lakh litres of STP water ultrafiltered daily for flushing.
Solar: 5.52 lakh kg of CO₂ avoided a year.
Organic farming: 11,850+ plants cultivated.
Investment: ₹65 million in CSR programmes and ₹17 million in waste management.
Partnership: processed plastics go to the Government of Kerala's Clean Kerala Mission; used cooking oil is handed over rather than discarded.
Small habits: garbage bags washed and reused at least 5 times; tyres made into furniture; Tetra Pak powder used to fill pillows.
Team structure: Project Head, General Manager, Research and Environment Officers, Plant Engineers, Supervisors and field staff.

Amrita Vidyalayams and Amrita University

Shaping a responsible generation.

Schools follow a five-phase model.

Awareness
On-campus systems
Skills and innovation
Community outreach
Scale

Amma with schoolchildren — Amma with Amrita Vidyalayam students.

Students in orange vests at a clean-up — Students at a school clean-up.

Puducherry and Tiruppur

An AI-powered waste detector that maps roadside litter.

Thalassery

Students tested landfill soil and water; Atal Tinkering Lab grant. The research reached San José State University.

Davangere

Student drives led to plastic-free wards.

Ahmedabad

Named cleanest school under Swachh Bharat.

Vijayawada

Clay Ganesha idols to protect the Krishna River.

Amritapuri campus, 2010

4,000 volunteers cleaned 37 km of road and collected 400 truckloads of waste.

Chennai

An Amala Bharatham team with colour-coded counters and buddy teams.

Pune

Compost pits became biology labs; audits became projects.

Hyderabad

The "Plastic Aware" campaign shared data with officials.

Lucknow

Temple and park clean-ups, including sanitary waste.

Kolkata

Murals, plays and exhibitions.

Delhi NCR

MoUs with shopkeepers; trees along highways; students called "green ambassadors".

Coimbatore campus

950 volunteers remade two of the city's busiest bus stands.

Kochi health sciences campus

Clean-ups run like clinical operations, plus hygiene kits for poor areas.

Tools used in schools

IBM SkillsBuild and 1M1B Changemaker.

Amrita Hospitals

A hospital that heals people and the planet.

Amrita Hospitals grew from a 115-bed hospital in Kochi (1998) to 1,350 beds in Kochi and 2,600 beds in Faridabad (opened 2021). Waste management grew with it, in five phases.

This hospital must not only serve people, it must also serve nature.
Amma

Staff awareness
Segregation
Energy efficiency
Water conservation
Greening

Row of colour-coded waste bins — Colour-coded segregation bins.

Biomedical waste, Kochi, FY 2024 to 25

Category	Tonnes a year	Handling
Red (contaminated plastics, rubber)	167.9	Authorised agency (KEIL)
Yellow (anatomical, soiled, cytotoxic)	125	KEIL
General waste	42.8	Segregated and recycled
Blue (glass, implants)	10.1	KEIL
White (sharps)	3.7	KEIL

Food and organic waste, about 2 tonnes a day, is composted on site.

Highlights

About 90% segregation efficiency; 1.5 MW solar; 5 lakh+ litres of water recycled a day.
About 72 bricks a day made from thin plastics (about 3 kg each).
Composting diverts waste that would emit 7,300+ tonnes of CO₂e a year; compost machines built with Amrita School of Engineering.
Faridabad: 41% lower potable water demand, 35% energy savings, IGBC Platinum.
Campus planned for 2050 sea levels: raised foundations, redesigned drainage, rainwater pits.
Landfill turned farm: a five-year study restored a contaminated island dumpsite near the hospital with compost, vetiver grass and vermicompost. It now grows chemical-free vegetables for cancer patients (KSPCB recognition, 2014).
KSPCB Excellence Award five years running.

More detail

The 2,600-bed Faridabad hospital was inaugurated in 2021 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Goal set: compost 8 tonnes of organic waste a day; the hospital's own thermophilic recipe makes compost in 4 to 5 weeks.
Effluent Treatment Plant (MBBR) reuses about 1 lakh litres a day; sludge makes biogas; incinerator ash is pressed into bricks.
Faridabad rooftop solar: about 1.16 million kWh a year; no CFC or HCFC refrigerants; low-VOC paints; no-smoking campus.
Colour-coded biomedical bins under the BMW Rules 2016; bar-coded containers for full traceability.
Next goal: a net-zero hospital.

Amma just didn't call for drains. She instructed us to plan for 2050.
Mr. S. Suresh Kumar, Project Director, Sustainability and Environment, Amrita Hospital, Kochi

Mega events

Managing millions.

Since 1987 Amma has spent over eight months a year on tour, with a convoy of about 30 vehicles carrying its own kitchen, utensils, chairs, portable toilets and a mobile recycling centre. Programs feed 50,000 to 80,000 people, and venues are left as clean as they were found.

Amritavarsham (Amma's birthday, up to 5 lakh visitors)

2 lakh+ people served water in steel glasses; packaged bottles cut from 30,000 to about 1,000.
50,000 steel plates bought for Amritavarsham 50, still in use today.
Wooden, jute and cardboard ID cards; paper and metal straws; an Eco-Village and AYUDH corner.
A 10-stage plate-washing model using eco-friendly detergents and sun drying.

Aerial night view of a large public programme — A public programme seen from above.

Volunteers carrying stacked chairs — Chairs travel with the tour and are reused.

Volunteers washing steel plates — The plate-washing model.

Waste from one Amritavarsham

Material	Quantity
Organic garden waste	15,000 kg
Burnable materials	7,000 kg
Paperboard	6,000 kg
Soft and hard plastics	4,000 kg
Waste paper	3,000 kg
Glass	2,500 kg
Metals	600 kg

All of it is weighed daily by type, sorted and tracked year on year.

More detail

MA Math has centres in 40+ countries; 300 to 500 people travel with Amma, with three meals cooked in advance for the road.
Food is bought locally on condition that suppliers take back unused stock; some food is kept partly cooked so nothing spoils.
Paper and metal straws at juice and tender-coconut stalls serving 2,000+ people; bamboo baskets in kitchens.

The milk story

For Amritavarsham 50, Amma had the team check five shops before any purchase. She stopped a cheap milk deal that lacked a government certificate; Milma then supplied milk twice daily, paid by use. (Br. Omkaramrita Chaitanya)

Next: Innovations →

Innovations

Nothing in this world is truly useless

The coconut kitchen

Nothing wasted, everything used.

Seeing how much firewood the ashram kitchen burned, Amma said: "Let's stop using firewood as it leads to deforestation. Use coconut husk instead." The team weighed husks, measured heat and tested the ash as fertiliser. Since COVID the kitchen has not bought firewood at all, while serving nearly 10,000 meals a day.

Coconut sourcing: Amma compared coconut prices and transport costs across Kerala and Tamil Nadu (diesel, driver wages, load per trip) before deciding where to buy.
During COVID, each AmritaSREE relief kit included three coconuts.

Amma gathering dried husk with ashram residents — Amma works alongside residents in the coconut programme.

A basket of husked coconuts — Coconuts with husk.

Jar of chammanthi podi — Chammanthi podi from oil-press residue.

Every part of the coconut

Part	Use
Flesh	Food and coconut oil, pressed in-house
Oil-press residue	Chammanthi podi, theeyal paste, then scrubbing soap
Husk	Cooking fuel, and biodegradable flower pots made to support families after the Wayanad landslides
Shell	Fuel and handicrafts made by women in Wayanad
Ash	Fertiliser for the same coconut trees

Water for life

Safe water, owned by the community.

Amrita mapped nearly 10,000 communities using national data (2010 to 2017) and found bacterial contamination to be the biggest threat. The response was Jivamritam, launched on 8 October 2017 in Amma's presence by President Ram Nath Kovind.

Jivamritam at a glance

₹100 crore funding; target of 5,000 community filters reaching 10 to 20 million people.
So far: 300+ systems, 90,000+ families, 4.5 lakh+ people served.
Each unit serves 300 to 400 families with sand, carbon, micron and UV filtration; modular, adding iron, pH or TDS treatment only where needed. RO only where salinity demands it.
Costs a family about ₹3 to ₹4 a day; run by local consumer committees, schools or youth clubs.

Amma with President Ram Nath Kovind at the Jivamritam launch — Amma with President Ram Nath Kovind at the launch of Jivamritam, 8 October 2017, Kollam.

A child drinking water from a tap — Safe water at the tap.

Phased purification

Bacteria and turbidity
Iron
pH
Dissolved solids such as nitrates, arsenic and salts

Beyond drinking water

Women as Water Ambassadors (WISE) after the 2018 floods, plus electricity-free NUF filters for disaster areas.
Mera Gaon, Hamara Jal: a citizen app mapping water across 14 states; Green Gown Award.
Chlorine research: after Amma's 2020 caution about excess chlorine, tests found many homes outside the safe range; studies with C. elegans and a pipe-loop lab now guide dosing.
Ocean Acidification Lab: started after Amma noticed dead crabs with thin shells on the shore.
Disaster response: OceanNet for fishers after Cyclone Ockhi; the AmritaKripa app helped 1 lakh+ people in the 2018 floods.
Pond revival in 100 villages across six states.
Partners include TU Delft, Yale, UC Davis and Irvine, King's College London and the Gates Foundation.

More detail

Partnership model: a public-private partnership (Design, Build, Finance, Transfer, Operate, Maintain), with villagers co-designing; 4.5 lakh volunteer hours contributed; one local operator paid for about 2 hours of daily work.
SREE platform: villages build their own water-resilience scores from sensors, surveys and climate data.
GEL-IoT: real-time water-quality sensors piloted in Kuttanad, Varapuzha and Kulasekharapuram.
4WARD (Fast Forward to SDG 6): work with Kochi, Ludhiana, Palghar and Haldia.
Chlorine findings: few homes fell in the safe 0.2 to 0.5 mg/L band (Oachira plant network); in lab tests, 2 mg/L or more killed C. elegans within 48 hours.
Labs created: SEER Lab (Sustainable Ecosystem Environmental Resilience), Soil Lab, Chlorine Decay Lab, and a Joint Centre of Excellence in Water Sustainability with TU Delft. Other partners include Esri India and IITs.
Floods: more than a dozen purification units set up in Alappuzha relief camps in 2018; drones built to deliver medical supplies.
Pond revival: desilting in UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh; the silt goes back to farmers as fertiliser.

Sanitation and dignity

A toilet is a matter of dignity.

In the 1980s, at a home in Kerala with no bathroom, Amma was told to wait until night to relieve herself. That day she understood what millions of women endure, and resolved that toilets must be built.

Food, water, and sanitation are basic human rights.
Amma

Women celebrating in front of a newly built toilet — Women in front of a toilet they built.

Women laying bricks — Women trained as masons.

64partner villages
15,000+toilets
5,000+people in awareness programmes
170+women trained in soap making
160women trained in construction

What was done

15,000 toilets pledged under Swachh Bharat, in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Haryana and beyond.
Women trained as masons and plumbers (500+ through Amrita's multimedia training), with low-cost simulations to practise siting toilets.
Designs matched to the land: raised eco-toilets in flood zones, twin pits in dry areas, garden toilets that recycle greywater, rammed-earth walls and blocks made from waste plastic.
Women-led sanitation committees and one "change champion" in every household.
Women used RTI to demand toilets and became paralegal volunteers.
All project villages under the WE: CSDP project declared open defecation free.
HaKsh-E, a friendly robot that teaches children handwashing.

More detail

Training methods: Train-the-Trainer for local women champions, the ICCS model (Inform, Counsel, Connect, Support), and Life Enrichment Education on hygiene and women's health.
Access to schemes: women champions helped families get Ujjwala LPG connections and Jan Dhan and Sukanya Samriddhi accounts.
HaKsh-E: recognised at Toycathon 2021 to 22 and at UNESCO's Global Summit of Gender-Related Chairs.
PMKVY (2018): Amrita chosen by the Government of India to give free vocational training (plumbing, tailoring, nursing assistance and more) in Kerala, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Students became hygiene ambassadors during COVID.
AmritaSREE (2005): women's self-help network started after the 2004 tsunami; its members drive sanitation and livelihood work.
Tippy taps: simple handwashing stations built by women in Nala village, Uttarakhand.

There is no need to do my pada-pooja, instead, please clean polluted places and resources. That will be the true worship of Amma.
Amma

With the money I earn, I feel in control of my life and I can help others, too.
Meenal Behn, community organiser, Gujarat

That, truly, is where dignity begins.
Dr. Bhavani Rao, Director, AMMACHI Labs, on women moving from receivers to contributors

Waste to wealth

Nothing in this world is truly useless.

From banana fibre to plastic bottles, the report's innovations turn what others discard into products, livelihoods and lifesaving tools.

Amma at the helm of a boat made from plastic bottles in a pool — Trial run of an emergency rescue boat with Amma at the helm in the ashram swimming pool.

Saukhyam pads

Banana fibre → reusable sanitary pads

2.9 million sold; 7.46 lakh women reached; 4,180 t CO₂ avoided a year.

Plastic blocks

Soft plastic → Lego-like building blocks for village toilets

1st place, Swachh Technology Challenge 2021.

Plastic tiles

Single-use plastic → floor and roof tiles

Holds 2 tonnes, weighs 500 g, lasts 50+ years; start-up R Cube Plastics.

Lifeboats

Plastic bottles → flood rescue boats

Carry up to 500 kg; Amma tested one herself.

Saree bags

Old sarees → grocery bags for COVID relief

Part of ₹85 crore relief through AmritaSREE.

Plastic crafts

Plastic bags → purses, wallets, meditation mats

Mostly exported.

Areca plates

Fallen areca leaves → biodegradable plates

Two women's SHGs in Byse, Karnataka.

Fish feed

Jackfruit seeds → ornamental fish feed

Income for women in Byse.

Art paper

Waste paper → cards, notepads

Sales support children in need.

Lemongrass oil

Solar distillation → wellness products

Tribal women in Wayanad; up to ₹8 lakh an acre.

Upcycled art

Caps, wrappers, e-waste → gallery artworks

Volunteer-led at Amritapuri.

Composting

Food waste → compost and vermicompost

Amritapuri composts 500 to 1,000 kg of food waste a day, with vermicompost beds alongside.

Woman holding banana fibre — Banana fibre for Saukhyam pads.

Tribal woman holding harvested lemongrass — Lemongrass harvest, Wayanad.

Artwork of a face made from electronic waste — Gallery art from e-waste.

More detail

Saukhyam: 93,324 tonnes of non-biodegradable waste prevented; Most Innovative Product Award from the National Institute of Rural Development; now part of the Amrita SeRVe self-reliant village programme.
Plastic blocks: award (certificate and cash prize) presented on 18 May 2022 by Kerala's Local Self-Government Minister M.V. Govindan; producing a tonne of cement emits 0.8 to 0.9 t of CO₂.
Plastic tiles: led by Dr. Shantanu Bhowmik and incubated at Amrita TBI; patented process; recycles up to 10 tonnes of plastic a month.
Areca plates: an order of 8,000 plates for Amma's 2017 birthday, plus 300 for local events; solar or LPG presses.
Lemongrass: being extended to the Deurbal villages of Chhattisgarh.
Amritapuri composting: colour-coded stations since 2009, beachside composting and recycling since 2011; run by up to two dozen volunteers in 2 to 4 hour shifts.

Next: Earth and Climate →

Earth and climate

Festivals that plant forests

Culture as catalyst
Carbon and climate

Culture as catalyst

Festivals that plant forests.

Amma uses culture and tradition to move people, especially the young, to restore nature. AYUDH (Awaken Youth; Unite for Dharma), the youth wing started in the mid-1980s, carries much of this work worldwide.

AYUDH's four focus areas: Social Service (Joy of Giving), Green Initiatives, Personal Empowerment, and Culture and Heritage.

Love is not just about planting trees. It's about leaving half the fruit for the birds, the squirrels, the butterflies.
Amma

Amma with AYUDH youth volunteers — Amma with AYUDH youth.

Vishuthaineettam (2015)

Saplings instead of money as the Vishu gift to children; 3 lakh+ saplings distributed in Kerala.

An Orchard in the Yard, a Birdhouse in the Treetop

Families plant fruit trees and pledge half the fruit to birds and animals.

Mother Soil and Indigenous Seeds

Saving native seeds and soil health.

Kitchen Garden to Grow, Rainwater to Hold

Home gardens and rainwater harvesting.

Global Seedball Campaign (2023)

Under Amma as C20 Chair: 2 million+ seedballs, 200,000+ participants; 5 lakh dropped from the air with the Indian Navy over 3,715 hectares; President Droupadi Murmu joined on 7 August 2023. About 100,000 seedballs were made in campus and ashram workshops; students now gift seedballs on birthdays.

Bee-friendly campus

India's first, at Amrita University. Communities also make and sell beehives as part of the international Ensure Eco campaign.

Amritavanam

1,000 native trees in a 4,000 sq ft micro-forest, planted by 300 students; self-sustaining in three years. A Green Hackathon on "Save Water, Soil, Earth" ran alongside.

Casuarina coast

1 million+ trees on the Alappad coast against erosion and tsunamis.

Haritamritam

2,000 grow bags made from old flex banners (Pune).

ASWAS

Used winter clothes collected for people in North India.

Vrischikam Onnu, Vriksham Onnu

1 lakh saplings in one day across Kerala.

Nalpamaram

Saplings of four sacred Ayurvedic trees (Peepal, Banyan, Cluster Fig, Indian Laurel Fig) for temples, schools and homes.

AYUDH Pune

2,500+ families trained in kitchen gardens and organic farming.

AYUDH Delhi, 2025

1 lakh+ seed balls dispersed in shrinking forest areas.

AYUDH Europe

Campaign for reusable bags, steel straws, lunchboxes and cloth napkins.

Rows of saplings in a nursery under shade netting — A sapling nursery.

Research

Seaweed farming for 120 women.
450+ sacred groves studied.
Water hyacinth to biofuel.
Restorative ecology: intercropping in Byse village, Karnataka; a women's cooperative to restore water, forest and land in Kasat Pani, Madhya Pradesh.

Carbon and climate

Greener choices, measured.

The report estimates carbon impact across three areas: lifestyle change, avoided emissions and offsets.

Source	CO₂ figure in the report
Seedball and Vishu tree planting (20-year view)	300,000 t offset
Casuarina plantation, Alappad (by 2025)	240,000 t sequestered
4 MW solar across 100+ institutions	65,000 t avoided
Hospital composting, Kochi	7,300+ t CO₂e a year
Saukhyam reusable pads	4,180 t a year
Solar and LED retrofits	1,650 t a year
Composting on campuses (methane avoided)	1,200 t a year

Everyday choices behind it: compact ashram living (200 to 250 sq ft per household), lights dimmed during evening bhajans, carpooling on all campuses since 2010, and no disposables.

Recognition: IGBC Platinum (Amrita Hospital, Faridabad), LEED (Coimbatore campus), and, per the report, Amrita has held the top position in India in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings since 2018. A SREE Carbon Footprint Dashboard tracks emissions by building.

Carpooling can save fuel. Thus we can bring about changes one step at a time.
Amma, message to the 2015 Paris Climate Summit

More detail

Compact living: ashram homes of 200 to 250 sq ft cut per-person energy emissions by an estimated 50 to 60%.
"Blue is the New Pink" seaweed project: 10,000 kg of seaweed captured about 10 to 13 t of CO₂.
Villages: solar lights replaced kerosene lamps in Amrita SeRVe villages.
Methods named: CDM AMS-I.D, AMS-III.F, VCS VM0039, ISO 14064-1 and IPCC Tier 1 factors.

UN SDGs the report links to

SDG 3 Health
SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation
SDG 7 Clean Energy
SDG 11 Sustainable Communities
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption
SDG 13 Climate Action
SDG 15 Life on Land

Next: Vision and Recognition →

Vision and recognition

Leading with love

Leadership qualities the report highlights

Leading by doing
Building systems, not slogans
Winning hearts as well as hands
Careful use of money
Partnerships with government and NGOs

Leadership competencies model (Ch. 18)

Visionary and strategic leadership
Emotional and relational intelligence
An ethical and spiritual core
Execution and change management
Self-mastery and empowerment

Call to action

Amma's recommendations

Highway parks for dignity: community parks at intervals along national highways with walking areas, water-recycling toilets, SHG-run shops and advertising to fund upkeep. The Math is willing to build them but needs land from the government.
Sanitation and health: STPs in schools, universities and hospitals; no septic tanks; safe biomedical waste handling.
Water: mandatory rainwater harvesting; reuse of treated water; refill stations in public places.
Waste to livelihood: train women's SHGs in coir, banana-fibre pads and natural fibres; support youth upcycling; community composting and biogas.
Education: 9R in curricula; zero-waste dining halls; teach children to take only what they can eat.
Restoration: annual national clean-up and afforestation drives; compost to regenerate soils.
Governance: train-the-trainer models, multi-stakeholder platforms and local ownership.

Awards and recognition

Newest first where the report gives a year.

Year	Award	Awarded by	Recipient
2025	Paristhithimithram Award, presented by CM Pinarayi Vijayan on 5 June	Government of Kerala (DoECC)	Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri
2025	Excellence Award, hospitals above 1,000 beds	Kerala State Pollution Control Board (AURA 2K25)	Amrita Hospital, Kochi
2025	First Prize, other institutions	Kerala State Pollution Control Board	Amritapuri campus
2025	Best practice in waste management	Vruthi Conclave, Trivandrum	Amrita
2025	Best Green Institution in Kollam District	Malinyamuktham Nava Keralam Campaign	Amrita
2021	One District One Green Champion	Government recognition	Coimbatore campus
2021	First place, Swachh Technology Challenge	Government of Kerala	Plastic blocks team
2017	State Pollution Control Board Award	KSPCB	Amrita
2014	Certificate of Merit, landfill bioremediation	KSPCB	Amrita Hospital research team
Undated	Net Zero Carbon Campus and conservation awards	Haritha Kerala Mission	Amrita
Undated	Best Green Institution awards	Clappana, Kulasekharapuram and Oachira panchayats	Amrita
Undated	National School Sanitation Award	Ministry of HRD	Amrita
Undated	Greenest and Cleanest Campus in India (twice)	Ministry of Education	Amrita
Undated	Most Innovative Product (Saukhyam)	National Institute of Rural Development	Saukhyam
Undated	Green Gown Award	International	Mera Gaon, Hamara Jal
Ongoing	KSPCB Excellence Award, five years running	KSPCB	Amrita Hospital

In Amma's words

All by Amma unless noted, quoted as they appear in the report.

We are not isolated islands, but links in a chain. If we change, others will change of their own accord.
Those who remove the thorns from the paths of others shower flower petals on their own.
Our roads and homes are becoming bigger and bigger, but our minds and vision are becoming narrower and narrower.
Let us take from Nature only what we really need, and try to give back to some extent.
Without Nature, neither humans nor civilization can exist. Nature is our life's breath.
When places of worship and pilgrimage become polluted, it is not just the land and water that suffer. To protect nature is to protect dharma.
When love and reverence for the Earth awakens within us, our lifestyle will automatically become sustainable.
The Earth is our mother. If she is not healthy, how can we be?
If we protect nature, nature will protect us.
All of creation is woven together in a single thread. If we protect nature with love, nature will protect us with grace.
If our youth arise and act, they have the strength and vigor to create huge transformation in society.
When we light the lamp of self-confidence in a woman's heart, it illuminates her entire family.
First create a system.Amma's instruction for Sabarimala
This hospital must not only serve people, it must also serve nature.
Let's stop using firewood as it leads to deforestation. Use coconut husk instead.
Food is a nation's backbone.
Food, water, and sanitation are basic human rights.
The universe is like a vast interconnected network. If it is shaken in one place, the vibration is felt throughout.
When people live in accordance with Nature, the song of life becomes sweet.
The Earth and Nature do not belong exclusively to human beings. Other creatures on this Earth have equal rights.
You may think it is only a small gesture, but through this the hearts of individuals blossom and others are inspired to follow.On recycled plastic crafts
Amala Bharatam is not just a name, it is a vision.Swamini Chitprabhamrita Prana
Replacing cash with a sapling, Amma redefined tradition, teaching children to gift life instead of currency.Dr. Balakrishnan Shankar

About the book

One Earth, One Heart

One Earth, One Heart: Amala Bharatam Campaign is a chronicle and a guide: real stories, research findings and community models tested in villages, cities, schools, hospitals and ashrams. It is dedicated to Amma and draws on interviews with senior disciples, volunteers and the leaders of Amrita institutions.

The author

Prof. (Dr.) Maneesha Vinodini Ramesh, Provost (Pro Vice-Chancellor) of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Dean of the Amrita School for Sustainable Futures. From Alappad, a coastal village in Kerala, she built the world's first wireless sensor network for landslide warnings (US patent). Under her work Amrita received the UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation and Development (2020), and she is listed among Stanford's top 2% scientists worldwide.

Contributors named in the acknowledgement: Dr. Reshma A S, Dr. Amritesh, Dr. Hari Chandana, Dr. Krishna Nandanan, Dr. Sruthy S, Dr. Sabarinath S, Nitin Kumar M, Dr. Anjana, Renjith Mohan, Subilash P S, Gosh U G, Sravan, Bri. Vandana and Amrita Nambiar.

We are no longer just inhaling the perfume; we are the perfume.
Epilogue. Amma compares her presence to a perfume factory: the fragrance stays with you after you leave.

Editor's notes: figures to confirm before launch

The report contradicts itself in a few places. Confirm these with the author's team, then remove this panel.

Topic	What the report says	Suggested action
Kerchiefs	10 million (Ch. 4) vs "1M+" (Ch. 3 table, Ch. 17); Ch. 4 also says both "across Kerala" and "across India"	Confirm the number and geography
Total CO₂ impact	"More than 400 million metric tons" (Ch. 16), but itemised figures add up to roughly 6 lakh tonnes	Likely an error; avoid the 400 million figure
Trees planted	AYUDH "1M+" (Ch. 3), "10 lakh since 2000" and "10 million since 2007" (Ch. 15)	Confirm one figure
Sabarimala zones and days	16 zones (Ch. 5) vs 12 zones (Ch. 10); "three days" vs "four-day clean-up" (Ch. 5)	Use 16 zones and three days unless told otherwise
Sabarimala volunteers	"5,000+ annually for over a decade" (Ch. 3) vs 20,000+ over 2011 to 2017 (Ch. 5)	Confirm
Pampa clean-up length	"Nearly 50 km of riverbanks" (Ch. 3) vs a 50 km road corridor (Ch. 5)	Confirm
Schools	90+ Vidyalayams, 86,000 students, 5,500 staff (Ch. 6) vs 85+, 90,000 students, 4,000 teachers (Ch. 10)	Use the latest official figures
University faculty	2,500 (Ch. 10 intro) vs 1,700 (Ch. 10, later)	Confirm
Manila	Described as being in Indonesia (Ch. 3); Manila is in the Philippines	Corrected on this site
Hospital red-category waste	167.9 t vs 167.5 t (Ch. 9); bin colours in the Ch. 9 figure appear swapped	Confirm
Saukhyam pads sold	2.9 million (Ch. 14) vs "over 3 million" (Ch. 7)	Confirm
9R list in the Preface	Lists eight Rs, omits Recover, misspells Repair	Use the nine Rs from Ch. 2
Kerala bins	6,000 bins, but 2 km spacing on 600 km needs about 300	Explain the split (highway vs local) if used
Toilets	15,000 "pledged" in the text, but "15,000+ toilets built" in the Ch. 13 graphic	Confirm which to say
Women trained in construction	500+ (text) vs 160 (Ch. 13 graphic)	Confirm
Hospital water recycled	5 lakh+ litres a day (hospital-wide) vs about 1 lakh litres a day (ETP alone)	Likely different scopes; label clearly
Amritavarsham visitors	Up to 5 lakh, but the drinking-water figure covers 2 lakh+	Fine as is; don't mix them
Ashram residents	3,000+ (Ch. 6 and 8); university students and faculty at Amritapuri given as 5,000+	Keep the two figures separate

Back to Home →

Key numbers at a glance

More numbers

Cleanliness as seva. Sustainability as dharma.

The campaign, page by page

The Story

The 9R Framework

Impact Stories

Institutions

Innovations

Earth and Climate

Vision and Recognition

How it began

Timeline

Three core objectives

Nine Rs, four levels

Level 1Prevent waste

Level 2Extend life

Level 3Manage waste

Level 4Heal

What makes it different

How it is applied

Lasting change begins with people, not infrastructure.

Power within

Power with

Power over, reoriented

Three stages of the 9Rs (Ch. 17)

Readiness checks before any project

How it spreads: the change-agent model

Theories the report links to

From one ashram to every continent

From one ashram to every continent.

India highlights

Around the world

More stories

Cleaning a whole state, one 2 km stretch at a time.

How it worked

Lessons the report is honest about

The fire in a multi-storey building

More detail

UN SDG links

Restoring the sanctity of one of the world's largest pilgrimages.

The scale

Seven phases

Before and after

Outcomes

More detail

Living laboratories of zero waste

Living laboratories of zero waste.

Amrita campuses: closing the loop

More campus detail

Shaping a responsible generation.

Puducherry and Tiruppur

Thalassery

Davangere

Ahmedabad

Vijayawada

Amritapuri campus, 2010

Chennai

Pune

Hyderabad

Lucknow

Kolkata

Delhi NCR

Coimbatore campus

Kochi health sciences campus

Tools used in schools

A hospital that heals people and the planet.

Biomedical waste, Kochi, FY 2024 to 25

Highlights

More detail

Managing millions.

Amritavarsham (Amma's birthday, up to 5 lakh visitors)

Waste from one Amritavarsham

More detail

The milk story

Nothing in this world is truly useless

Nothing wasted, everything used.

Every part of the coconut

Safe water, owned by the community.

Jivamritam at a glance