Aravindan Neelakandan has worked from 2004 to 2015 with Vivekananda Kendra-Natural Resources Development Project (VK-nardep) based at Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu serving marginalized rural communities in sustainable agriculture. In 2004 he was awarded a junior research fellowship in cultural economics by the India’s Ministry of Tourism to research the economic potentials of the neglected ruins in Kanyakumari district, in southern Tamil Nadu. He has also co-authored a book on Azolla with Dr. Kamalasannan Pillai. Between 2013 and 2015, he was associated with the ‘Green Rameshewaram’ project as a part of which he wrote a book ‘Local Ecological and Cultural Traditions’ of Rameshwaram. These experiences provided him with in-depth knowledge of the history and sociology of Tamil people. He was part of the editorial board of ‘Yuva Bharati’ the youth magazine of Vivekananda Kendra. He is also a popular science writer in Tamil. He has written books in Tamil in the following subjects: on the social and religious history of the Vedas, a compilation of articles on science particularly evolution and Indian knowledge system. He has co-authored with Rajiv Malhotra the well-researched best-seller ‘Breaking India’. He is now working as senior editor with Swarajya magazine.