Undoubtedly, Solar Power is reaching the heartlands of India in a big way very soon and there are some initiatives such as the two stories below that are really heart-warming on how Solar Power can be also used to eradicate poverty and elevate standard of living in developing countries like India.
Solar Grandmothers
Ever imagined that illiterate and old aged women from remote villages can be recruited as “solar engineers”? The Barefoot College in India trains women from around the world to install and maintain solar lighting and power in their home villages. Using sign language and color-coded circuits, the women learn to build and maintain a variety of solar lamps and chargers in a six months hands-on training course. The Barefoot College "campus" is located in Tilonia, a village in the Rajasthan state of India. The school has trained 150 grandmothers from 28 countries, electrified around 10,000 houses with solar power and saved several thousands of liters of diesel and kerosene from polluting the atmosphere. “There shall now be light, instead of darkness in our village” exclaims one of the ‘graduates’ from the school, who thinks solar energy will replace the polluting and expensive kerosene lamps that she uses now.
The campus itself is a testament to the power of solar energy as everything there is powered by the sun; food is prepared using a parabolic solar cooker, night classes are powered by solar lanterns. "We have shown that solar-electrified villages can be technically and financially self-sufficient," says Sanjit Roy the founder of Barefoot College who is fondly known as “Bunker”. The Barefoot College is an innovative bottom-up approach to rural education and development and is run as a non-profit organization with public donations and government funding.
Solar Postmen
In another story also from the state of Rajasthan in India, post delivery persons (who are mostly men in India) are chosen as beneficiaries of solar powered vehicles. Postmen in India are traditionally looked upon as iconic figures of selfless and friendly social service. They have to walk, trek or ride on bicycle for miles together in the scorching heat or pouring rains in order to deliver letters to homes in the remotest areas. There is often only a single postman delivering letters to the entire village. Their plight will now be alleviated in Ajmer in Rajasthan, which will be the first state in India to deliver postal messages through a solar powered vehicle delivery system.
Sachin Pilot, Union Telecom and IT minister of state, has inaugurated on 24th January 2011 the first solar powered rickshaw for the use of postmen to deliver the postal items. Five eco-friendly solar auto rickshaws were distributed to the postmen in different parts of the district. The state department will monitor the results of this trial and if found worthwhile, it will be spread to other parts of the country. This will certainly broaden the smile on the service-oriented and hardworking postmen of India’s postal service.
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