Born in Kerala, the state with the highest literacy rate in the nation, Nikhil Nirmal, an IAS officer from the 2011 batch, has always had a strong passion for education. Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, voiced concerns in August 2018 about the calibre of education being provided to pupils in the region. The young officer, who was then serving as the District Magistrate for Alipurduar, had a brilliant concept at the time that he called the “Aloran” programme.