IITian who brought light to several homes
a Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, has brought light to some of the poorest and darkest corners of Karnataka. Priya is a resident of a village just a few kilometers away from Bangalore's international airport. Her home has never had electricity. Till a few months back, she used to prepare for her examinations without electricity. Then, a miracle happened. And the man who came to her rescue was Harish Hande.
Hande's solution was solar power. Over the past 17 years, his company SELCO India has installed solar lights in more than one lakh homes across Karnataka. The simplest kit, with two lights and a mobile charger, has enough power for about four hours. But at almost Rs 11000, it could have been too expensive, for poor villagers. "People spend Rs 150-200 every day on candles, kerosene and mobile charging, which adds up to a huge amount in a year's time. So that's exactly what we are trying to prove that small installments are what people need to pay for the system," said Hande. Today, Priya studies without straining her eyes. Her neighbors run a business charging batteries with solar power. They lend those batteries to local shopkeepers, for Rs 15 a night. Those shops stay open till much later, so shopkeepers earn more money. All this has happened because of Harish Hande, a former student at IIT Kharagpur. He was pursuing a PHD in the United States, when he realised many Indians spend their nights in total darkness. When he first tried to change that, nobody believed in him. "In 1994-95, when I made a presentation in IIT Delhi and IISC, they told me, don't come from America and teach us what to do. This business model of yours will not work. After 17 years, we have become a business model that's now taught in Yale and the Sloan school of management," said Hande.
a Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, has brought light to some of the poorest and darkest corners of Karnataka. Priya is a resident of a village just a few kilometers away from Bangalore's international airport. Her home has never had electricity. Till a few months back, she used to prepare for her examinations without electricity. Then, a miracle happened. And the man who came to her rescue was Harish Hande.
Hande's solution was solar power. Over the past 17 years, his company SELCO India has installed solar lights in more than one lakh homes across Karnataka. The simplest kit, with two lights and a mobile charger, has enough power for about four hours. But at almost Rs 11000, it could have been too expensive, for poor villagers. "People spend Rs 150-200 every day on candles, kerosene and mobile charging, which adds up to a huge amount in a year's time. So that's exactly what we are trying to prove that small installments are what people need to pay for the system," said Hande. Today, Priya studies without straining her eyes. Her neighbors run a business charging batteries with solar power. They lend those batteries to local shopkeepers, for Rs 15 a night. Those shops stay open till much later, so shopkeepers earn more money. All this has happened because of Harish Hande, a former student at IIT Kharagpur. He was pursuing a PHD in the United States, when he realised many Indians spend their nights in total darkness. When he first tried to change that, nobody believed in him. "In 1994-95, when I made a presentation in IIT Delhi and IISC, they told me, don't come from America and teach us what to do. This business model of yours will not work. After 17 years, we have become a business model that's now taught in Yale and the Sloan school of management," said Hande.
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