The alternate energy project in rural India
India is a country known for its diversity in culture which leads to diversity in its usage of natural resources in the sustenance of daily living. Be it for lighting of domestic areas or place of living, be it in usage of natural resources for generation of energy to undertake cooking. The very quantum of demand on natural resources for just these two basic requirements of daily living works out to an astonishing figure. Being a country of large manpower is also responsible for this high demand and usage.
The need to conserve the natural resource without compromising on the actual requirement or curtailing the basic requirements of this great human mass was the seed for ideas of finding alternate means of energy to provide these people. The project was implemented in the village areas of the country which makes up more than one third of the entire country.
Usage of solar heater and solar photovoltaic for cooking and lighting was considered for about thirty villages in the Northern parts of India. It was implemented with the help of Indian Oil Corporation in which these villages were identified for implementation of this project.
The project involved not only of providing the alternate source of energy generation devices but also of educating the mass there on its use, value and then the infrastructure to ensure that repair of the device could also be undertaken when the need so arose.
Rural India is also known to be a place where clan rule is more holy than any other form of scientific law. Explaining to the villagers the utility of these devices and its value could only be succeeding if the governance system that is followed in the village was taken into confidence.
The panchayat that is the group of five elected members of the village who make most law in the village and even pass judgment were taken into confidence and first explained the merits of these devices. It was only through them that this project could succeed. The villages now have reduced demand on the natural resources like forest wood and kerosene for their daily living requirements.