Ideagen Radio
Ideagen Radio
2025 Global Leadership Summit: Sanjay Kommera — Reviving Ramgad Through Climate Innovation
A lake that once hosted national games went dry for two decades—and then the skies opened. In this episode, Sanjay Kommera, CEO of Accel1, takes us inside Ramgad’s revival, where precision cloud seeding, advanced sensors, and purpose-built drones transformed a symbol of loss into a living system for water resilience. Alongside the technical journey, we explore how biochar, regenerative practices, and farmer-first marketplaces turn a single rainfall into sustained livelihood gains and healthier soils.
Our conversation dives into the “why”: building climate intelligence at the infrastructure layer so action follows insight. We cover the failed first flight, the RF chaos of a 50,000-person crowd, and the regulatory milestone that unlocked 10,000-foot operations. From cloud microphysics and real-time analytics to seeding strategy and verification, we map the chain from sensing to decision to measurable rain. On the ground, invasive biomass is converted into biochar to hold water, reduce inputs, and stabilize yields—because precipitation without retention is just runoff.
Zooming out, we explore how governments from the Middle East to Australia are leveraging granular data to guide policy and investment. Practical examples include smart street and traffic lights capturing local pollution, digital rails connecting Indian farmers to international markets, and AI that characterizes cloud fields before a drone ever launches. The goal isn’t magic—it’s probability, readiness, and systems that make better choices cheaper and faster. Ramgad becomes a blueprint for drought-prone regions from California to Africa: integrate atmospheric science, regenerative agriculture, and market access, then iterate with transparency and rigor.
If this blend of engineering and stewardship resonates, follow the show, share this story with a friend who cares about water and food security, and leave a review with the one question you want us to tackle next.
Welcome back, everybody. Welcome back to the Idea J Global Leadership Summit. I'd like to invite a summon Jenny Commerce, CEM of Excel One. Summon Jay, welcome.
SPEAKER_01:Once the pride of Jaipur and Rajasthan. A lake that quenched a city's thirst, nourished farmers' fields, and carried the dreams of a nation. Here, in 1982, the Asiad boating games were held. Ramgad stood as a symbol of India's promise, beauty, and strength. But for the past 20 years, Ramgad has been dry, a victim of human greed and encroachments, a victim of neglect. What was once a jewel of Rajasthan became a barren scar. Hope faded. The lake, the people, the city all waited, but water never returned. Axel One stepped in, a global climate engineering company on a mission to solve the world's water crisis. Through technology, through regenerative agriculture, through pollution control. We came to Ramgadh not with doubt, but with belief that even here, hope could rise again. We met with the government of Rajasthan, with officials, with communities, and together we chose Ramgard as the pilot. For the world's first precision-based cloud seeding mission, powered by modern drones. We built drones unlike any before. Hybrids of quadcopters and fixed wings, drones designed to climb as high as 4.5 kilometers. Because at Ramgar, clouds live far above ordinary reach. For two months, our team studied every cloud, every inch of the land. We found the harsh truth, moisture was gone, the soil was choked with silt and wild Julie flora, the clouds too weak to rain. This was no small challenge. This was the test of human will. Finally the day came. 50,000 people gathered to witness history. But in the noise of excitement, personal drones, thousands of phones, the signals failed. Our drone did not fly. Negativity spread. Doubt returned. The world said, this is futile. But we did not give up. Day after day, we tested. And then came the breakthrough.
SPEAKER_05:Yes, in home all of it. So I need Delhi and Juli. How long? For 55 minutes. 55 minutes will start in 10 minutes.
SPEAKER_01:For the first time in India, commercial drones were given permission to fly up to 10,000 feet. The skies were opening to Ramgar. And so we began.
SPEAKER_04:So the altitude is at like approximately 1 kilometer. So the flight will take off. The cloud base is at 960 meters.
SPEAKER_01:Our drones climbed 1.5 kilometers, 2 kilometers higher than ever before. Precision cloud monitoring.
SPEAKER_04:Release the seeding agent.
SPEAKER_01:Targeted seeding. And then the miracle. Hope returned to Ramgat.
SPEAKER_04:I'm Kalyan Sakavatiya Soda. I'm a climate scientist at the Axel1 Company. So today we have conducted our cloud seating experiment at Ramgard Lake. So that the cloud base is at 850 meters. So we have released our seeding agent at 870 meters altitude. We have seen the speed initiation and enhancement of the vine. The vine initiated very shortly.
SPEAKER_01:This is only the beginning. We have proposed the next phase, advanced atmospheric stations, drones that can hover for six hours, and a sensor network that reads every cloud with deep precision. Our mission to make Ramgard the first lake in the world to be revived through atmospheric science and precision technology. But our vision doesn't stop with water. From the mud, the weeds, the Jouli flora, we will create biochar, turning waste into high-quality biomanure for farmers, reviving not just a lake, but organic agriculture, soil health and prosperity. Ramgat is rising again. Not yet full, not yet finished, but alive with hope. This journey is bigger than a lake. It is the blueprint for California, for the Middle East, for Asia, for Africa. A blueprint for solving the world's water crisis. At Axel 1, we are not just bringing back water. We are bringing back life. We are bringing back organic agriculture. We are bringing back hope.
SPEAKER_02:Apologies, it's six minutes long, but the story is important.
SPEAKER_06:Well, what do you say to that, Sanjay? Well, we're gonna go into the interview. We're gonna go into the interview. What inspired you personally to take on the challenges of building climate intelligence at a systems level rather than simply creating a tool or a dashboard or something similar?
SPEAKER_02:Sorry. So I looked at technology, worked in technology for almost 22 years, and I was actually having a nice conversation with Sharon. What's the purpose? What am I building this technology for? I've seen digital transformation, I've led uh engagement over 300 million where we have completely upgraded all the systems and other stuff. But then um that's when actually this four years back, the world was talking about ESG. I'm like, what is ESG? I started researching myself, and then I realized what was um the future is all about sustainable transformation because the world is going through lots of changes. It's not necessarily the carbon emissions which we are all crazy about, measuring carbon emissions and how we reduce carbon emissions. But when I travel to different parts of the world, especially the global south, um I've seen the countries trying to build sustainable uh solutions, which is like, for example, the Middle East is looking at uh converting all their uh dry lands into green lands. They're investing a lot of money. Uh there's a lot of innovation going on where they want to be self-sustainable. They don't want to be uh an import-dependent country or countries. And um I've traveled to various states in India. Uh you know, it's it's almost the fourth largest economy and soon to be the third largest economy with 1.4 billion people, aspirations of people. You know, you need to secure your natural resources. So the this is this one lake that we have seen. Uh there are 33 lakes like that in one state, which are almost dry, you know, you're because of various reasons, human encroachments and all that stuff. I think that led to uh you know, kind of uh changing our course of action from the traditional ESG to solving the problems. And uh one thing that we have realized, uh what happened is here and the entire leadership is uh people are not gonna change so easily. And you could have million regulations, you can have you know bargain regulations depend on which country you are enforcing them. There are a few countries people don't care about regulations. Then how do you build technology to solve the problems? And that's what Axel One is all about.
SPEAKER_06:Well, it's an incredible vision, and it goes back to what we talk about here, while we're here uh on the sidelines of Anga in 2025, which is global leadership, right? And leadership in general and the leadership principles, it's a day filled with global leaders and luminaries like yourself coming in to talk about what is so important, why is leadership so important?
SPEAKER_02:I think it's just uh there are a lot of problems in the world, right? I mean it it's not only people, uh the species, right? So um, you know, when we when we look at Axle One, you saw the tagline, engineering earth come back. So earth is not on Earth doesn't mean it's only humans, right? A lot of species are struggling. So eventually we have to be uh, you know, as a leader, you have to look at it in a broader perspective. You cannot just focus on people-centric problems, but look at everything around you.
SPEAKER_06:And so you're focused on solving problems uh at the infrastructure layer, which is fascinating. What does this exactly mean in practice? Like what is the infrastructure layer in practice? And for governments, industries, and communities, how do they then engage with your platform?
SPEAKER_02:I think this goes back to uh the technology transformation, right? Number one is uh if you have to solve the agriculture problem, right, where you empower farmers and you bring in technology. And I'll give you a classic example. We just made a proposal to Middle East and India, um, where we um onboard uh the all the farmers onto our platform and uh they can sell it anywhere in the world. Right now, the problems that I have seen is the farmers do not have access to technology and they just have to kind of they we call it as uh MRP rates, right, which are the rates set by the local governments, and um sometimes when you have more to produce, your price goes down. Instead, if you have a technology platform where a farmer in India can sell it to Mexico, then that's an environment for farmers. So that's how you bring in uh technology and um you know the other thing that we are focused on is uh the pollution control. So for that you don't need the big factories and other stuff. Um we are working on uh a concept called smart street lights that can actually uh look at the localized pollution and sequester it. So instead of just having a traffic light, you could have a smart traffic light that can actually uh sequester the pollution. It could be a small small version, uh, but particularly you have to build in technology like that where you're empowering your farmers, you're looking at the the you're looking at the water. For example, this particular uh lake, we have employed we have deployed a lot of AI. But AI, again, everybody talks about AI crazily, but now how do you deploy AI use cases to really understand the problems? So we looked at the clouds like it's 20 years dry, and uh the clouds are pretty bad. They don't have power, they don't have energy. So how do you deploy sensors and really understand the cloud patterns and give it? So that's how you bring in technology. And our platforms help.
SPEAKER_06:It's incredible because you're you're that example of the leadership we're talking about, is is seeing around these corners as a leader and not being complacent. Complacency is a killer, right? And so you describe XL1 as a purpose company for a regenerative future. We saw some of that in the video. What, Sanjay, seeing that you're peering around corners, what does that look like in five or ten years from now?
SPEAKER_02:I think we are we when we talk to governments now, I mean I've actually met multiple governments across different countries, they're responding positively because I think the governments are willing to deploy the technology and more importantly the data analytics to really understand what kind of problems are they dealing with, right? Which they don't have access to the data. The granular data where where the data can help them in decision making. Right? So they are willing to uh invest in technology. Um for example, I gave an example of the Middle East where uh they're focused on regenerative agriculture, um, India and I've been to um Australia. There's a lot of uh momentum over there on sustainability, on bringing in green technologies and stuff. Again, I'm not wearing the carbon emissions hat here, but really how do you empower people? How do you bring these technologies to uh build a sustainable future? Incredible.
SPEAKER_06:And so looking ahead, it sounds like you're pretty optimistic. What gives you, Sanjay, the most optimism? Like, why are you so optimistic about the future of climate intelligence and the role that Excel one can play in that?
SPEAKER_02:I think we there are a lot of opportunities and the world is messed up right now. Uh messed up in the sense of not getting into the political aspects, but uh from a climate standpoint. Um you know, we are seeing, I mean, even Texas uh technological crazy and we talk about California wildfires every year, and it's happening from the past 15 years. What did we do to fix it? So I think that's where um there are opportunities for uh to bring in technology, I mean the composition deep technology, and that's where it can have significant uh impact of AI, and uh and that the governments are willing to listen and implement because at the end of the day uh it's it's property damage, it's loss for insurance companies, etc. etc. Now Axel 1, we want to be that leader. We want to be that leader, we want to be that innovation company focused on um all three aspects uh the earth, water, and and air.
SPEAKER_06:You know, I uh we could go on for days, but uh thank you for the inspiration and thank you, thank you leadership, Sanjay Kamara, Axel One CEO. Thank you for having me, George.