: How Women Turned A Tiny Village Struggling With Darkness Into A Solar Gram #IndiaNEWS #community development Every 10 days, a male and a female representative from each home at Manyachiwadi village,

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How Women Turned A Tiny Village Struggling With Darkness Into A Solar Gram #IndiaNEWS #community development
Every 10 days, a male and a female representative from each home at Manyachiwadi village, located in Satara district of Maharashtra, assemble at 9 pm for their gram sabha meeting. They are judicious and proactive, and play as big a role in the village’s progress as the five constituent members of its gram panchayat.
In sync with the findings of the latest National Family and Health Survey, 231 women form the majority of Manyachiwadi’s 420 residents. But that isn’t what makes the hamlet stand out from other rural areas in the state. Rather, the community has drastically reduced its reliance on power supplied by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Ltd (MSEDCL), which is presently facing arrears of over Rs 70,000 crore.
While several villages in the state continue to protest against erratic power cuts and make their peace with prolonged darkness, all 128 homes in Manyachiwadi boast of two 20 watt (W) solar energy light bulbs each. A central 3 kilowatt (KW) solar system also powers 12 street lights, the village’s gram panchayat building, an anganwadi, a primary school and even the main dairy outlet.
Thirteen years ago, as many as 12 women-run Self-Help Groups (SHGs) not only took the initiative to ensure Manyachiwadi’s leap to a more sustainable way of life, but also bore the majority of the expenses for setting up the solar energy systems.
“Since its establishment in 2001, our gram panchayat has received 59 state and national awards for developmental projects, and the women of Manyachiwadi deserve the credit for the successful execution of most of these,� sarpanch Ravindra Anandrao Mane (42) tells The Better India.
“About half of our electricity comes from solar energy, but we are working towards making a 100 per cent shift,� he adds. “For the past two years, panchayat officials have been studying the village’s 103 MSEDCL meters, to assess how consumption differs on a monthly basis. For instance, fans are used a lot more in May than other summer months, while none are used in January. Once the research process is complete, we can invest in more solar energy systems accordingly. �
All 231 women residents of Manyachiwadi village are members of its 12 SHGs. (Source: Ravindra Anandrao Mane)
Ignited by women
During the early 2000s, Manyachiwadi used to receive most of its electricity from the Koyna River dam, one of the four dams under India’s second largest hydroelectric power plant, says Ravindra. “Unfortunately, we used to face eight hours of load shedding everyday. Still, we somehow managed to go about our routine during the day, but the load shedding also happened at nighttime, making it an extremely unreliable source,� he adds.

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