Solar power, an agent of change

A recent addition in the dowry list in country's power deprived regions of Bihar and eastern UP is the solar electricity generating system.

Updated on: Mar 23, 2011, 01:17:42 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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A recent addition in the dowry list in country's power deprived regions of Bihar and eastern UP is the solar electricity generating system. It can generate enough power to run a television set, couple of fans and a water pump, the other likely items on the dowry list.

Getting appliances without power is of no use. So there is a growing demand for solar power system.

"There is a sudden spurt in demand of solar photovoltaic systems in rural India as they have now become part of the dowry gift list," said a chief executive officer of a private solar company, who was not willing to be quoted on this aspect of the business.

In the last two years, the demand for solar panels in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar has doubled from 5,000 units a year primarily as it is one of the items being demanded as dowry.

A unit, which has three solar photovoltaic panels, cables and a battery, costs about R40,000 in the retail market. "Such is the demand that most manufacturers are not able to meet the demand," he said.

Most of these areas fall in the 45 % rural habitats without regular power supply but with basic entertainment modes such as television sets or mobile phones. To run them, villagers are finding solar an invaluable option.

In Sunderbans

Over 50 households in one of the world’s finest eco-systems, Sunderbans, also known for its tigers, have joined hands to install and maintain a solar power electricity system. The system became operational on March 9 this year.

"A cooperative society runs, manages it and even collects monthly bills from villagers," said A Anurag Danda, head of Sundarbans Programme & Climate Adaptation with NGO World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Along with it, WWF has also launched battery-operated rickshaws for local commuters.

Such small community-based solar electricity systems have been successful in remote areas of Uttarakhand, NorthEast and poor regions of Bundelkhand. "For the first time since Independence these people have experienced the power of electricity," said an official of NGO Development Alternatives, which installed the system in MP.

Other benefits

A UNICEF study shows regular power supply is an incentive for children to study. If they complete study till matriculation, the family income almost doubles. India's solar story

These benefits are not behind the unique dowry demand. But, watching television is. A survey by a solar firm showed that majority wanted power at home to watch a movie or a cricket match. And, some just wanted it to run pumps for irrigation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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