The barefooted solar engineers

It is truly surprising what can be achieved if we put resources into helping villages think out of the box.

Mahatma Gandhi has stated that the only way to fight poverty in India is not by mass production but with production by masses.

Urban people may be surprised by the fact that even rural people who have no education can actually contribute to finding solutions regarding technical issues like solar electricity. The rural Indians needs a gandhian model to let the people themselves manage their technology.

There is a lot of untapped potential in make in India. Given the proper training and resources, the people of rural India are more than capable of managing their technological advancement. There is no single village with a proper business model with repair and maintenance system for solar energy as it is not “cost effective”.

Instead of having centralized solar systems, the rural India needs solar systems that the poor can make in the village and have an independent system. However, this model seems to be not so profitable for businesses. If the rural people are trained to install their own solar plants, each village can become independent to maintain themselves. The most effective way is to train the women of the village. This will create many jobs for the rural India and actually make them independent.

Image Reference: Indianexpress