Basic Question To Be Solved

How to provide Electrification to the last mile, places which are not covered by regular government schemes due to genuine logistical challenges?

Context

Even after multiple electrification schemes by the Government, there are certain hamlets or tolas which remained un-electrified because of scattered settlements, undulated topography and inaccessibility. To help mitigate this challenge in Gumla, PRADAN, a Civil Society Organisation have collaborated with Gram Urja to setup Micro-Grid stations in the remote pockets which caters to 35-40 households at a time. Realising the potential of the intervention, the district administration charted out a plan to scale up the intervention using District Innovation Fund (DIF).

Barefoot College (www.barefootcollege.org) also have worked on similar issues in almost 97 countries till date & have a good experience in this field. Further, they are supported by prominent organizations like APPLE,ORACLE,COCA-COLA foundation, etc. They also have collaborations with MEA (Ministry Of External Affairs) & MNRE (Ministry of Renewable Energy).Thus, the district administration partnered with Barefoot college to plan and implement this initiative.

A hamlet named karanjkur with 150 Households have been selected. Funding for 100 households is being provided by the district administration and for the rest 50 HHs, Barefoot College has mobilized from CSR funding.

Once the 150 households are electrified, in order to make this entire initiative sustainable, there will be a REW & Committee setup to make sure the solar engineers (Solar Mamas) get a regular source of monthly income for their skills. Further Barefoot College will promote other livelihood models related to solar enterprise and other SHG level small scale enterprises so that the women can get a regular source of income in the long run.