Solar Lanterns -- Lighting a billion lives in Indian Villages!

Guest Column

LaBL: need to study microlevel economic impact

By Deepak Parvatiyar

(This article was published in Journey towards a Billion – A quarterly newsletter on Lighting a Billion Lives© Campaign,  The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), on 9 July 2009)

http://labl.teriin.org/pdf/LaBL_July%2009.pdf

The Jhamvu Vas village in Mewat district of Haryana is an eye opener.

The village with 400 houses gets power supply hardly for about four hours a day. Like hundreds of villages across the country, life comes to a standstill here once the sun sets.

Yet, on the surface, Jhamvu Vas is unlike many other villages that always wear the mask of backwardness. With paved roads where occasionally some tractors and bikes pass by, pucca houses, computer centres, school going children, and even a Vodafone shop, the diligent denizens of the village have apparently done well for themselves.

But they deserve more than what they indeed get— regular electric supply. That regular uninterrupted power supply can do wonders to their prosperity is obvious with the introduction of a little experiment—the LaBL (Lighting a Billion Lives) campaign.

 Jhamvu Vas is not very far from the highway. Nor is it at the backwaters of development. Just about 80 kms from Delhi, its denizens are witness to mega developments in neighbouring Gurgaon. The village has a primary school exclusively for girls who grow up to take up professional courses, whether that of a beautician or a tailor. But for many of them, their ambitions were nipped in the  bud just for one reason, that is, highly erratic power supply in the village.

 Of late, much has been written about Jhamvu Vas on how solar lanterns, provided under TERI’s LaBL campaign, have changed the lifestyle in this nondescript village in the last eight months or so. 

These ‘eco friendly’ lanterns have eased the lives of the villagers at homes, businesses, and wedding functions. Yet the most important highlight of the campaign is that it has attracted many women in this village to get associated with it.

The reason is obvious. The endorsement of the campaign by the rural women of a progressive village like Jhamvu Vas is a testimony of its economic implications in the rural society. The lanterns have cut the cost of kerosene (though hardly available in the shops) and candles, resulting in substantial savings. Yet the biggest achievement of the campaign is women’s economic empowerment in the village. Unlike many other villages of the country, even elderly women have received primary education in the village. Proximity to urban centres had always fuelled their ambitions.

But they were helpless because of their inability to devote the extra time to pursue their ambition in face of the prolonged power cuts at night.  The village has received adequate attention in the past few years. However, no study has been undertaken to assess the microlevel economic impact of the LaBL campaign. Perhaps it is too early to do that, but Jhamvu Vas can be a good case study to assess the campaign’s economic ramifi cations in rural areas. It can be a model village to be replicated elsewhere in the country.

In the course of my interaction with some of the women in the village for Norad’s Result Report 2009, I came across a 12th class girl student who doubled her monthly earning to Rs 8000 through private tuition in just about eight months. This was possible because of the lantern, as she increased the shifts of her tuition classes, she could now study at night.

Today, she not just feels economically liberated to sustain her own education; she even lends support to her parents and dreams of becoming an engineer.

 According to my analysis, it depends on the users of the lantern as to how they can utilize it to enhance their productivity. However, the same cannot be said about the village entrepreneur. TERI has based LaBL on enterprise-driven solar lantern charging and renting model where the charging stations are operated and managed by local entrepreneurs who are selected and trained by TERI and its implementation partners.

In Jhamvu Vas, 45-year-old Bala Devi – a grandmother of three – is the entrepreneur entrusted with the responsibility of the 50-odd lanterns. There is no capital investment from her. The lanterns are provided to her by TERI free of cost. In return she has to stock them, ensure that she does not lose them, and keep them recharged for the renters. The earnings from the rentals are all hers. On an average she rents out 25 lanterns in a day charging Rs 2 for the smaller lanterns and Rs 3 for the bigger lanterns per night. She occasionally rents big lanterns at a higher rent for marriages and other functions. The garret on the terrace of her single-storied pucca house has been converted into a makeshift charging station for solar powered lanterns. It is from here that she conducts her business. 

She sits on a charpoy to ferret out these lanterns to the villagers. In a register, she maintains all records and even signs on behalf of the illiterate renters of the lanterns. Never had she thought that studying till class fi ve – after which she had dropped out of school – would be of such great use to her in the autumn of her life.

 On an average, Bala Devi earns about Rs 1500 every month. She bears the cost of the battery that needs to be replaced after about two years, the cost of which – in case of LED – is about Rs 150 and – in case of CFL – about Rs 575. Hence, for 25 batteries, she needs to shell out Rs 9100 from her earnings of Rs 36 000 during this period. Her net earnings, therefore, stand at Rs 26 900 after two years. This estimate has been worked out without taking into account the loss of revenue in monsoon and winter months.

 On a more optimistic note, in almost all the villages, entrepreneurs are fi nding commercial ways to rent the lanterns and earn more. Even in Jhamvu Vas lanterns rented for special occasions such as marriages, functions or by commercial users such as a dhabas, rent goes as high as Rs 30. In my analysis, the commercial aspect of the LaBL campaign needs to be highlighted vigorously to offer it a much broader canvass.

 I notice that there has been a demand by villagers to buy these lanterns. Even villagers from neighbouring villages have shown interest in either buying or getting these lanterns on rent. TERI does encourage sale of lanterns. But the message has not yet percolated down to the village entrepreneurs. The earlier it is done, the better it will be for the development of many more villages in the country. But a challenge would also be to ensure the availability of solar batteries in the villages. Non availability of batteries can be a dampener as experienced in the past with the failure of many battery-powered projects.

 The positive aspect of the LaBL campaign, though at this initial stage of its commencement, is its success in inculcating interest among entrepreneurs in villages.

An entrepreneur in Sunaria village in Rewari District of Haryana, who was earlier into computer business, became inspired by the LaBL campaign in Jhamvu Vas and set up his own marketing firm for solar products. In less than eight months his team strength rose from 10 to 895 people – largely unemployed village youth– who could make a living out of selling solar products in over 300 villages.

 It is these entrepreneurs who can be developed and cultivated to propagate solar energy for a clean, sustainable environment. While they are motivated by profi t, their aggressive marketing style helps tapping potential buyers from both rural and urban areas. TERI acknowledges that if finances can be made available to village entrepreneurs at a reasonable interest rate with a worked out subsidy in the form of LaBL grant, it can turn out to be a symbiotic enterprise for the community as well as the entrepreneur.

 People are willing to pay upfront equity to avail the basic lighting amenity in their villages. This reflects the initial success of the LaBL campaign. But the message to these prospective investors in the rural areas needs to be conveyed strongly.

Deepak Parvatiyar is a senior journalist and is a director of a multi-media production house, Isha Creative Vision (M) Sdn. Bhd. Malaysia. He is also Chief Media Advisor of Isha Creative Vision Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.