Home to 40 Harijan and Kahar families, village Damodara of block Ramnagar in Jaunpur district is another nondescript spot in the map of India. Inhabitated by those who are at the lowest stratum of the society, both economically and socially, only way of earning livelihood in this village is by working as a labour. It was in this forgotten corner where WII decided to provide clean solar energy.
It was a long journey and today, out of a total of 40 families, 32 families own a solar lantern that they have purchased from WII on installments. Over the last two years, the villagers apart from benefiting from the lantern, they have also succeeded in paying back over 90% of their loan amount to WII. The story of Damodara village in fact has set an example and sent a clear message that if you have a technology that is useful and if you can provide it at a price structure and through a mechanism that suits the beneficiaries, then it is bound to reap success. The need of the hour in fact is to develop affordable technologies that can transform lives of the common people. |
