Greenpeace welcomes the position taken by Ministers of the BASIC group of countries (Brazil, China, India and South Africa), who met yesterday in New Delhi, to continue negotiations on a fair and ambitious climate agreement within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, Greenpeace emphasised that such an agreement needs to be legally binding in order to ensure its implementation.
In their joint statement, ministers from the four leading emerging economies called for meetings of the climate convention’s working groups on long-term co-operative action and the Kyoto Protocol to be held in March 2010. They also want the working groups to meet at least five times before the next major UN climate conference which is scheduled to start on 29 November 2010, in Mexico.
The Ministers underlined that UN climate talks occupy a central position and they called for all negotiations to be conducted in an inclusive and transparent manner. They also outlined their desire for better South-South scientific co-operation and support for vulnerable countries to adapt to climate change.Greenpeace is encouraged by the willingness of the BASIC group to support vulnerable countries, both by ensuring their participation in open and transparent negotiations and by providing technological and or financial support.
However, Greenpeace is calling on the BASIC countries to make this support more tangible by the time of its next meeting that the South African government is to host in April 2010.
Greenpeace also noted the further consolidation of the BASIC countries as a group and urges them to assume the responsibilities that go with an alliance of such influential economic powers.
Though the BASIC countries demonstrating leadership in furthering negotiations on a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement, Greenpeace wants them to exert pressure on industrialised counties tourgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make their own appropriate contributions in emission reductions.
“Continued inaction by governments would allow global warming to engulf us all,” said Siddharth Pathak, Climate and Energy Policy Officer, Greenpeace India. “If we are to keep this demon at bay and avoid dangerous climate change, industrialised countries must cut their emissions together, 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and provide massive financial and technological support to enable developing nations as a whole to reduce their projected growth in emissions by 15-30% over the same timescale. It’s not easy but the consequences of failure would be among our worst nightmares,” he said.
Copenhagen, 6 January 2010 – Danish police today released from custody four Greenpeace climate protesters who have endured 20 days of pre-trial detention in Copenhagen prison following a harmless peaceful protest staged on the evening of 17 December. Their release comes a day in advance of their detention being reviewed by a Danish judge. The four activists still face trial in the Danish courts, and possible prison sentences.
The four “Red Carpet Activists”, from the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland, were arrested following a peaceful protest at the start of a State Banquet hosted by Queen Margrethe II for world leaders attending the Copenhagen climate summit. Mads Christensen, Executive Director, Greenpeace Nordic, welcomed their release from custody but was scathing of the Danish authorities. He said, “The unnecessary imprisonment of these four peaceful activists has effectively been punishment without trial. It has piled a further ‘climate injustice’ on top of world leaders’ failure to agree a legally binding treaty to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The alleged ‘crime’ is that the Four aimed to impress upon world leaders the urgency of acting to prevent catastrophic climate change. The length of their detention without trial is out of all proportion to what was a simple and harmless protest with a legitimate objective.”
Following the arrests of the Four, Greenpeace guaranteed – as it does in cases where volunteers are involved in peaceful protests – that, if the activists were released, they would voluntarily return to Copenhagen to stand trial. To further facilitate the police investigation, Greenpeace consistently offered its full co-operation to Danish police and provided them with comprehensive details of the activity. A request from Greenpeace asking the Danish police to specify what additional information they needed to know in connection with the case was met with two weeks of silence on the part of the police. Only on Tuesday 5 January, did Danish police finally request the names of other individuals who had been in the Greenpeace ‘motorcade’ on 17 December. Today, these individuals volunteered their details, removing the last conceivable reason for detention.
On the evening of 17 December 2009, three of the activists posing as a ‘Head of State of the Natural Kingdom’, his ‘wife’ and a security detail were waved through the security cordon around the Heads of State banquet, that was held immediately prior to the crucial final day of the Copenhagen climate summit. The ‘Head of State’ and his ‘wife’ unfurled banners reading, “Politicians Talk, Leaders Act”. A fourth activist was later arrested. The protest was far from a sophisticated operation. It relied entirely on simple, readily available materials and had elements of farce. For instance, Greenpeace logos displayed on the windscreens of vehicles hired by Greenpeace to arrive at the banquet were in one case wedged in place by a pair of socks. One of the car number plates included “007″ – a reference to James Bond. Blue ‘police’ lights on top of another vehicle were purchased for DKK 50 (Euro 6.70) via the internet.
Leaders failed to heed Greenpeace’s call. The Copenhagen climate summit ended in failure by agreeing only to note the ‘Copenhagen Accord’, an empty document containing no legally binding commitments for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the summit being seen as the moment for decisive action, world leaders failed to set legally binding targets to prevent the Earth from warming more than 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. Beyond this crucial threshold, global warming’s impacts are expected to severely affect the survival and wellbeing of millions of people and countless species.
British human rights lawyer Richard Harvey questioned whether such detention is in line with European and international norms. Harvey said, “The Danish authorities must regard legitimate protest as an essential element of democratic discourse and freedom of expression. Such prolonged pre-trial detention appears to be a flagrant violation of key articles of international human rights agreements requiring those awaiting trial to be released when they guarantee to appear in court and for them to be entitled to trial within a reasonable time.” The Danish situation is in stark contrast to that in the United States where, on Monday 4 January 2010, 11 Greenpeace activists were sentenced for a climate protest staged in July 2009 at the Mount Rushmore national monument.
Their banner, placed alongside the image of President Lincoln, carried the face of President Obama and the text, “America Honors Leaders, Not Politicians. Stop Global Warming”. The court in South Dakota allowed the activists to return home pending trial. This also included an activist resident in the Netherlands. In sentencing the activists, the judge in South Dakota noted the care exercised by the activists, their motivations and the tradition of peaceful protest in the United States. The sentences ranged from 50-100 hours of community service to a maximum of two days in jail.
Copenhagen, 19 December 2009 – Greenpeace today staged a candle-lit vigil outside Vestre Fængsel (prison), in Copenhagen, calling for the immediate release of four of its activists who face spending Christmas in a Danish jail. Three of the activists took part in the peaceful protest at the Danish Queen’s Heads of State dinner, last Thursday, during the Copenhagen Climate Summit.
Over 100 Greenpeace staff and supporters holding banners reading “Freedom From Climate Injustice” took part in the vigil where the activists are being held in isolation and without trial.
“Copenhagen has become a ‘climate crime scene’ after over 120 Heads of State squandered an historic opportunity to agree a climate saving deal,” said Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International Executive Director.
“While the perpetrators of the real crime fled the country on private jets, it is shocking that the Danish authorities have decided to detain, without trial, four peaceful protesters over Christmas.”
“Their families will spend a bleak festive season knowing that their loved ones will be languishing in isolation for acting to save the climate. For standing up in defense of the hundreds of millions of people and countless species which will be severely affected by catastrophic climate change.”
All three activists have children at home who will be missing a parent this Christmas. The activists – Juan Lopez de Uralde, Nora Christiansen and Christian Schmutz – are the climate heroes who brought home to world leaders attending last Thursday’s banquet with Queen Margrethe the message that leaders were failing the climate.
The activists joined Heads of State from over 120 countries en route to the banquet at the Danish Parliament. Arriving in a three-vehicle convoy, immediately in front of Hilary Clinton, a Greenpeace ‘Head of State’ and his ‘wife’ stepped out onto the red carpet as representatives of the millions of people around the world who wanted
a fair, ambitious and legally binding treaty to head-off climate catastrophe.
Holding up banners reading: “Politicians Talk, Leaders Act”, the activists demanded action and not merely words from Presidents and Prime Ministers during their Friday session of the climate summit.
Yesterday, police also arrested Joris Thijssen, a climate campaigner at Greenpeace International. He is being held under the same conditions as the other three activists.
“Like the outcome of the Copenhagen conference, this is a total sham and a climate injustice,” said Mads Flarup Christensen, Greenpeace Nordic Executive Director and husband of Nora Christensen. “The real crime was committed in the Bella Center, where the climate talks took place.”
Indian climate coalition come together to demand a Fair, Ambitious & Binding Deal. Two thousand sky lanterns released at Lotus Temple as an assertion of hope.
Greenpeace activists stage ‘die in’ outside US Embassy in New Delhi
A Greenpeace activist is taken away by police outside the US Embassy
New Delhi, 17th December 2009 – On the eve of President Barack Obama’s arrival in Copenhagen, Greenpeace activists today staged a protest outside the US Embassy in the Indian Capital. “Obama it’s about survival” read the banner, held by 2 while 5 activists staged a “die-in”. The message on the white sheets that covered the “bodies” said “ACT NOW”.
“Obama must break the stalemate at the Copenhagen summit. It falls upon the leader of the United States to show that he is not going to hide behind the developing world, but be the leader that we trust he is”, said Vinuta Gopal, Climate & Energy campaigner, Greenpeace India. “We are here to remind him that his action or lack of it, in coming day, is going to determine the very survival of people on the planet”, she added.
“For the President to be a true Nobel Peace Laureate, he must commit to long term finance and targets that are based on science of climate change. Only this would reverse the United States’ blocking role in the climate negotiations to secure a fair, ambitious and binding deal for the climate this December” asserted Ms Gopal.
Activists from the Climate Satyagraha Camp in New Delhi continued to organize mobile “Green Booths”, so people could “Call to Save the Planet”.
Greenpeace has sent the following letter to Manmohan Singh urging him to go to the climate summit in Copenhagen and help to achieve a Fair, Ambitious and Binding deal to reduce greenhouse gasses.
To,
Prime Minister – Mr. Manmohan Singh
South Block,
Raisina Hill,
New Delhi,
India-110 011
Date: 26 November 2009
Dear Mr. Manmohan Singh,
As you know, in December the world’s governments will meet in Copenhagen to take crucial decisions on one of the most fundamental challenges ever to confront humanity – climate change. We urge you to attend this unique summit, COP15, in your personal capacity. Together you and other world leaders can and must make the breakthrough the world desperately needs.
Time is running out for preventing catastrophic climate change. We now know that an increase in global temperature of even 1.5°C could lead to irreversible impacts, and 2°C risks triggering catastrophic runaway climate change. We need a global plan that peaks global emissions by 2015 and starts declining rapidly thereafter. Delay by even 5 years would significantly hinder the possibilities of staying below a 2°C increase, as the annual reduction rate required after the peak would become draconian. Every year of delay would increase mid term mitigation costs by hundreds of billions of US dollars in the energy sector alone.
Citizens of the world want action now. Never before have we seen such a wave of appeals for urgent and ambitious action from all sectors of civil society and from all parts of the world. Scientists, global trade unions, leaders of the largest faith groups, indigenous peoples’ coalitions, progressive industry alliances, large investors, human rights organisations, youth groups, military experts, medical organisations – to name but a few – have appealed to you, our world leaders, to deliver an ambitious outcome from Copenhagen and warned about the consequences of failing to do so.
In your name, your negotiators are steering the world towards mass extinction, massstarvation and human catastrophe. Delay is no longer acceptable. There is still enough time to reach a fair, ambitious and binding deal in Copenhagen, but what is lacking is political will. We are appealing to you to do your utmost to create an environment of cooperation and mutual trust that will enable the breakthrough the world is waiting for.
All the crunch issues must be resolved in Copenhagen and they need to be captured as legal text in an amended Kyoto Protocol and a new Copenhagen Protocol, which will require ratification.
Industrialised countries as a group must commit to emissions reductions of at least 40% from 1990 levels by 2020 and agree a way to break that down into individual, legally binding obligations for a five year commitment period of 2013-2017. They must also agree to legally binding financial commitments to deliver at least $US140 billion annually for adaptation, clean technology and forest protection in developing countries
All commitments need to be comparable, and need to be legally binding, thereby building upon and strengthening the provisions in the Kyoto Protocol.
Enabled by financial and technological support, developing countries need to reduce their projected emissions growth by at least 15-30% by 2020 in the energy and industry sectors and put in place national plans to end tropical deforestation and related emissions by 2020
The most vulnerable countries need to give priority to adaptation and must receive financial support to do so
The time for political declarations or politically binding handshakes is over. Copenhagen provides a unique opportunity for real change. Together you and other world leaders can make history in Copenhagen by agreeing to a fair, ambitious and binding agreement. We, with our friends from around the globe, will be there with high hopes and expectations of you.
Yours sincerely,
Kumi Naidoo – Executive Director Greenpeace International
Samit Aich – Executive Director Greenpeace India
Jharia holds the largest coal belt in India and is also one of the largest in Asia. The unscientific open cast mining has caused the fire to set alight for a century, releasing many types of toxic gases.
Peter Caton shot the story and Cris Aoki made the video / concept.
Power plants = energy injustice, farmers protest against coal power in Delhi
100 Protesters lodge complaints at the Social Justice Ministry, in New Delhi
Delhi, November 18, 2009: On the eve of the winter parliament session, more than 100 farmers and young people representing all eleven districts in Vidarbha, held a protest at the doorstep of the Ministry of Social Justice to highlight the injustice of the energy sector in their region and country. Carrying banners and lanterns and singing songs of revolution, they queued up to file their grievances on electricity poverty with this ministry. “We have waited long enough for electricity to reach us. We don’t believe that the current system will ever deliver us power. Even living next to a coal plant means nothing, I still get less than 12 hours of power in day”, says Ravi Gavai, Maharashtra Yuva Parishad. “That’s why I am here to ask Mukul Vasnik if he thinks this is justice?!
The group, in a meeting with Mukul Vasnik, social justice minister and elected MP from the Vidarbha region, urged him to champion their cause to a continuous supply of electricity. They demanded that he ensure that there was a process initiated to ensure decentralized energy that ‘empowered’ them was immediately initiated. “The power ministry plans to build more large polluting power plants that take people’s land and pollute their water and harm their health, but all the power from the plants goes to cities and industries,” said Maitree Dasgupta, Climate and Energy campaigner, Greenpeace India, who is helping the group. “We believe that Mukul Vasnik can and should raise this issue as ultimately this is social injustice. We trust he can champion people’s needs”, she added.
protesters in Delhi take a stand against coal
Frustrated by the neglect of the government the villagers conducted an electricity survey from 50 Vidarbha villages which they presented to the Social Justice office. The survey highlighted that in spite of being declared as an electrified village most of the power generated is diverted towards electrifying the cities leaving the villages with a bare minimum of 8 to 10 hours a day and at odd times when it is least useful.
Rural development Minister CP Joshi, acknowledged that the energy injustice is affecting rural development specially agriculture. He assured that if the MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable energy) proposes to develop renewable energy projects in Rural India, his ministry would support the implementation of the same.
Greenpeace, yesterday, released a report – “Still Waiting” – which reveals that despite growth in electricity generation – and increasing carbon emissions – the rural poor continue to be deprived of electricity. The report challenges the government’s energy model and recommends a decentralised energy mix as a solution to overcome social injustice and mitigate climate change.
Stop Energy Injustice - a protester in Delhi
The grid-based centralised electricity generation system failed to meet the basic energy needs of the majority of the country’s rural population. “Although the Government justifies demand for a larger carbon space to enable development of the poor, it must be noted that the centralised grid-based electricity is not delivering to our rural population”, said Maitree Dasgupta, Climate & Energy campaigner, Greenpeace India. “It is time for an energy revolution, and decentralized energy is at the heart of it”, she concluded.
An energy injustice exists within India that is obstructing our economic and social development. Greenpeace believes the solution to this injustice lies in developing an infrastructure of decentralised energy generation systems that can be managed by the communities they serve, utilising renewable energy technologies. One such example can be found in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where in a small, quiet village in Bundelkhand, an energy revolution is taking place.
At first glance, Rampura could almost be any other village in India: long flat fields of clodded earth, cattle resting in the shade of uneven houses with heavy-lidded eyes. Just one of the many forgotten villages in which election promises are rarely kept. But Rampura’s unassuming appearance belies a poineering reality, for this village is home to India’s first community-run solar power plant.
Ghyanshyam Singh Yadav is the leader of the village solar committee, the democratically elected village body responsible for managing the plant and the electricity it supplies. He’s also a farmer, a big, gentle man who rests his hand on the plant’s solar panels as he explains their story.
“Since before Independence we had always used kerosene lamps,” he recalls. “All the villages around us had electricity, it was only ours that didn’t. We approached politicians, district managers, the electricity board… the politicians would always agree when it was election time, then later they would refuse. Until 1997 there was absolutely nothing here, not even roads or a school.”
The complete lack of infrastructure meant that the villagers were cut off from society. “We had no idea of the outside world as we had no newspapers, let alone news channels. Over 90% of the villagers were illiterate,” Ghyanshyam says.
A number of development programmes and the formation of a development committee in the village lead to a small school and some basic water and sanitation structure, but the day would still end for residents when the sun went down. In 2008, the residents heard of a Norwegian company called Scatec Solar looking to conduct an electricity project with a village in India. Ghyanshyam and his colleagues jumped at the chance, offering the company land on which to build their plant and forming a solar committee. The 8.7KW peak plant was constructed in a mere 28 days, a collaborative effort between Scatec, the villagers and an Indian organisation called Development Alternatives.
“It’s a pity that another country had to come and help us, and our own government sat by for years and didn’t,” Ghyanshyam says. “But we’re not ashamed. We worked 24 hours a day for a month to put this together, and we’re proud of it even though it came from outside.”
The solar power plant that has made such a difference to the residents’ lives is surprisingly small: three neat rows of photovoltaic panels that slant towards the sun, a control room with a row of batteries and a monitoring room to gauge the success of the project. The area is gated to protect it from accidental damage by untrained villagers, but the gate is open most of the time and children play in the compound, ducking in and out of the panels. In the nine months the project has been running, the only (minor) damage has come from one particularly voracious storm, and there has not been one minute of power failure – a stark contrast to the frequent power cuts and poor quality supply that plagues the surrounding, grid-connected villages.
Once Rampura’s plant was set up, villagers who wanted an electricity supply paid to have a connection made to their house, and so a small, decentralised mini-grid feeds 44 homes and several streetlights. Although power generation by solar is free, the villagers pay a small amount for the electricity they use, which goes into a communal bank account in preparation for the mandatory battery replacement that will be required in a few years.
Still, the costs are often less than the villagers used to pay for the weak, smoky kerosene lamps that used to soot their walls. Bablu Singh Yadav, another of Rampura’s farmers, used to pay Rs. 250 a month for kerosene to light dinner for the family. When the electricity came, two CFLs cost him Rs. 60, provided a far better quality of light and could be turned on at any time. It’s hard to hear his explanation of this though, as the old black and white TV in the background is blaring the Mahabharat, watched avidly by his four daughters and their friends. Electricity use quickly progressed in Rampura, and Bablu holds one of the village’s few cable connections.
“I’ve suddenly got a better idea of what the world is like, “ he says, crediting the exposure with improving both his business and his knowledge of national politics. “We [men] used to come home from the fields, have a drink, go and talk and end up having a fight,” he recalls. “Now, we watch television and talk about politics.”
His girls are less shy too, he says – they’re always trying to copy wrestling moves they see on television. Now they have light to study by they’ve improved so much at school that he’s considering sending them away to complete their education.
Rampura’s female community has benefited in other ways too, which are specific to this type of decentralised model. Rajeshwari Devi is gorgeous, bright and at just 19 is the second in charge of the solar committee. I ask her what her husband thinks.
“He doesn’t think much,” she laughs. “But he thinks its great. It’s important to keep developing. People stay at home together in the evenings now, which is much nicer, and the streetlights mean people feel safer if they want to go out after dark. But I think the next generation will really benefit.” She tucks her little boy under her arm. Her daughter is in class V and has just started lessons on the village’s one computer, donated by the German company, and also powered by the solar power plant.
Down the hill from Rajeshwari’s house a steady roar fills the otherwise quiet path. When Rampura’s mini-grid was set up, Balwan Singh Yadav saw an opportunity to boost income and bought a small flour-mill. His teenage son operates it now, flour on his school trousers.
“I saw an opportunity for us to have an edge over other villages,” he explains. “As we have electricity for 24 hours a day and they don’t. We used to have to travel to grind our wheat, but now other villages come here, and outsource to us.”
The money the family makes from the flour mill is not as significant as that they make from agriculture, but it’s certainly more reliable in the drought-hit Bundelkhand region. The steady flow of income has finally enabled Balwan’s family to move out of his brother’s house, and into a home of their own. In the central courtyard outside his wife scrubs their little daughter in the sunshine, then lies her down and kisses her feet.
The stark difference between Rampura and some of the other remote villages visited for this report is disheartening in one way, and brings hope in another. The assured supply of quality electricity is bringing all the development benefits so familiar to India’s city dwellers, but there is something else here too: the self-governance of the system has strengthened the community and instilled a sense of ambition and pride which is apparent throughout, from conversations with the residents right down to the absence of litter in the streets. Three families that left the village for the city before the solar plant was installed are now trying to move back – a refreshing and rare case of reverse-migration.
India’s villages are self-sufficient by their nature, and so a decentralised energy-generation system that allows their processes to continue unhindered by outside restraints will of course be beneficial. But self-sufficient is not the same as self-contained, and the pleasure the residents have in connecting with the rest of society through this electricity supply is clear. It is interesting to note that Ghyanshyam, the driving force behind the village’s solar power plant, has never heard of climate change: the decentralised system makes sense for the village on a local level alone.
“We wanted to do something historical with our village, and show others how a village can and should be,” he says. “We’ve gone from dark to light, and we want to inspire the rest of the country.”
In March 2009, Greenpeace India installed solar panels onto the roof of two schools in Jalka Village, Yavatmal district, Maharashtra. The village had come to the country’s attention when Rahul Gandhi used the example of Kalavati, a widow living without electricity in Jalka, as supporting evidence for India’s need to expand her nuclear power generation. Set up in a mere three days, the photovoltaic panels serve to both refute the need for the lengthy set-up times and implicated dangers of nuclear power plants, and also as a symbol of how decentralised renewable systems can provide energy solutions for rural communities. Six months later, the residents of Jalka gave their verdicts on the system.
Outside, crowds of men and women dance in the street to the boom of drums and jangling of pipes, raising clouds of dust and purple gulal into the air. It’s the last day of Dessara, but you wouldn’t know it to look at the children of Jalka. Inside the village primary school, the children are sitting quietly, heads bent in concentration under the steady whir of electric fans.
“Attendance has really improved since the fans were installed,” says Joti Hirurkar, a teacher at Jalka Zilla Prishad School. “Instead of fidgeting and running around, the students are more comfortable and sit quietly and study. Before the fans, kids also used to fall sick a lot due to the heat. That’s not happening anymore.”
Before the installation of the solar panels, the primary school had an electricity connection that afforded them a single light bulb, an mismatching and unnecessary cost in an establishment that was closed at night time but experienced temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius during the day. The secondary school, which is semi-private, uses its solar panels to run the village’s only computer. A local electrician maintains both systems, at a small cost to the schools.
Three-quarters of the houses in Jalka are connected to the centralised power grid – the remainder of the population live below the poverty line and can’t afford it – but the power supply is unreliable, inflicting seven to eight hours of power cuts per day at the time of writing. Vidharba region, of which Yavatmal is a constituent district, generates a surplus of the power it needs through its four thermal power plants, but over half is transmitted to other states.
And the villagers’ power requirements extend further than lights or fans, with more immediate financial consequences.
“The power cut is during the day, so we have no power to irrigate our crops,” says Rudeshwar, a panchayat member and farmer. “There’s water in the well, but no way to spread it. Drinking water should be pulled up by electric pumps too, but we’re having to use hand pumps instead.”
Most Jalka farmers grow cotton , which needs at least an hour of rain every eight days to flourish, something the residents say can no longer be relied upon.
“The monsoon this year has been particularly bad,” continues Rudeshwar, “though generally rainfall has been decreasing over recent years. And the weaker the monsoon, the more power we’ll need for irrigation. This year, I think we will have lost 90% of our crop. We’re waiting to see if the government will waive our loans.”
In fact, this year’s monsoon has brought the lowest rainfall in the Vidharba region of the last ten years. Yavatmal district, previously known as the ‘suicide belt’ of the region, has been the worst hit.
However, so satisfied are Jalka’s residents with the uninterrupted power supply to the school’s fans that they have sent a written proposal to the panchayat samiti requesting that solar panels be placed on the roof of every house.
“We see the solar panels working perfectly. In our village, the electricity is not working perfectly. Therefore we would like all power to come from panels like this,” reiterates Anasua, the panchayat president. “Everybody signed the letter, though we haven’t heard anything back yet. Rudeshwar also met the BJP candidate and told him the same thing, but we’re waiting for his visit also.”
As an alternative to photovoltaic panels on every roof, Jalka’s residents are also open to the idea of a community solar power plant, which would spread electricity through a decentralised grid. This might be better, they think, because it would allow the responsibility of the panels’ maintenance to be shared. They’ve also put thought into how the costs will be covered.
“The government paid for 90% of the cost of our electric water pump. We paid for the other 10% and are paying for the warden to take care of it, and the electricity we use through it,” explains Rudeshwar. “We’d be willing to follow a similar scheme with solar.”
“Decentralised systems would be a good thing for the whole village, ” concludes Joti Hirurkar. “Particularly for small businesses that do things like flour grinding – these get hit very hard by the power shortages. As for our school, next we’d like to use solar to power a computer.”
