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Rural Energy Project

Rural Energy Project

 

 This project was first of its kind where youth, industry and a local NGO came together to explore the possibilities of such an association. This partnership set a precedent for youth across the country to explore the possibility of adopting neighbouring villages and being engaged in transforming the country.

 

Vision: To create a clean technology project in rural India to act as an international model and to indicate to the Indian government that action against climate change does not sacrifice development, but instead alleviates poverty and is beneficial to the community in all aspect and to reduce greenhouse emissions from our rural communities, contributing towards climate mitigation.

The aim was to provide rural people living in poverty with light, to aid issues of health, safety, income and education and also transform their lives. Furthermore to create new and engaging opportunities for individuals in India to help mitigate climate change and help rural communities adapt to its impacts. And finally in helping scale up technologies and domestic manufacturing of the products while encouraging a growth of direct and indirect green jobs for a green economy.

 

Selection of the Target Village: IYCN partnered with Shanti Ashram, a well known NGO to target the right village. The main criteria for the selection and identification of the village were that it should be an un-electrified village and the income level of the majority of the households is less than that of the national average.

 

Location

MGR Nagar located on the outskirts of Coimbatore about 15 km from the city limits. It is located in the Perur block of Coimbatore and has come into existence after the state government moved the slum dwellers in the city as part of the efforts of the slum clearance board. The village is well connected by paved roads to the national highway but there is no public transport available. Hence the villagers are dependent on private vehicles or have to walk about 2 km to the nearest bus stop. The village has about 54 households who were all resettled from slums in the city that were cleared by the slum clearance board.

 

 

Socio-economic status of the village

  • All the households in the village are engaged in non farming activity.
  • None of them own any agricultural lands and are dependent on daily wages from the city.
  • More than 90 % of women in the village do not work outside and only the men who go out for work.
  • All the men are employed either as daily wage labourers or as contract labourers and in this informal sector, there is constant threat of eviction or removal and almost non-existent social security cover. The average daily wage is about Rs.150/- per labourer where they only find work on an average of 15 days in a month.
  • Only about 30 % of households have houses constructed out of either brick or hollow cement blocks and the rest of the houses are all made of coconut leaves.
  • Major problems faced during monsoons because of lack of concrete foundation.

 

A dark reality in a prospering India

 

Out of the 54 houses in the village, only 4 homes had access to electricity and there are only 3 street lights for the whole village.

This is an irony in a state which was declared as 100 % electrified in the year 1987 and 71 % of rural households are electrified (as per a data released by CEA dated 31.03.2005).

Difficulties faced due to lack of electricity-children learning in the dark and resulting in low grades at school and discourage them to pursue higher education. Only option left but to use kerosene lamps which results in air pollution and harming the children due to lack of ventilation in the houses. Other ill effects being damage to eyes and respiratory system. Kerosene oil also contributes to global warming.