Guwada Gujran: The NDTV Toyota Greenathon is lighting up lives. Villages that would be plunged into darkness at nightfall are now riding on solar power which has replaced expensive and toxic kerosene lamps.
Guwada Gujran in Rajasthan is one of the first three villages to get solar power after the Greenathon through TERI's Light a Billion Lives initiative. And here's a look at the other villages that will soon be solar powered. Thanks to the Greenathon.
Fifty villages will soon benefit from solar technology. While most of them are in north India, villages in the south are also being identified.
NDTV's campaign raised 2 crore rupees in February and now work is on to spread the light. Lighting up each village takes about two months. Village communities, local NGOs and companies that make the solar lamps are all working together.
"The way the whole program works, there are three important stakeholders, bottom up - the community - someone needs to come forward and become the charging station operator. Second is the NGO partner because TERI is not present everywhere. And the third important stakeholder is the industry partner."
It's a slow process; but it is one that will surely light up lives for years to come.