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The Solar Army is recruiting.
Our Solar Army will change lives. Drop by drop, step by step, just like each soldier - from the privates to the general - helps win a battle, we will change the face of rural India.
This village in India has been living in the dark, for 25 years. A generation, remote and forgotten, has lived without access to electricity. We plan to change that. We’re bringing POWER to them. To empower a change. To bring them back from the past. And we need your support.
![Villagers of Gulabganj]()
Mission Gulabganj
Gulabganj is a remote village in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. The state has a huge number of rural households, and is one of the least electrified states in India, with less than 25% households having access to electricity.
![Location Gulabganj, in Uttar Pradesh, North India]()
Gulabganj has had no access to electricity for 25 years. With promises made and broken, the villagers have lost all hope.
This is until the Solar Army arrived with its incredible Solar technology.
Our Solar Army is going to rescue pockets of forgotten villages with each mission. And our NEXT MISSION is in Gulabganj.
Who Are WE?
Solar Soldiers consists of an army of individuals like YOU, who yearn to change the world for the better.
Contribute to the Solar Army:
- The Soldiers' contributions will be used to build a Solar mini-grid in the villages
- A mini-grid will be self-sustaining and will meet local power needs of households, schools, government center and farms
- You choose your contribution from a list of options
- You earn a rank on the basis of the impact you deliver
- With each rank, you get rewarded with exciting perks!
- Additionally, we will give some very cool rewards to the BEST soldiers, irrespective of rank!
Powered by Sunkalp Energy, the Solar Soldiers will deploy solar technology to bring solutions to the rural POWERLESS. With this mission, we are building a solar mini-grid to power the lives of around 200 villagers without access to electricity.
Let's march, Soldiers!
Phased Execution:
![Project Execution Timeline]()
What Villagers Say
Life without Electricity
![peoplespeak]()
Villagers' Agreement
The Solar Soldiers have already been given a go-ahead by the villagers, who have signed their consent to the installation of the solar grid.
![Agreement Village Agreement]()
The Impact
Rural Electrification
What's the impact, you ask? Well, there are more impacts than you can imagine.
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Fertility rate reduction: Electrification has proved to reduce fertility rates and improve women health across all developing nations. Here's a look at the Indian states with respect to electrification. Uttar Pradesh has one of the lowest electrification at 25% electrified households. It also has one of the highest fertility rates in the country.
![Impact]()
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Education: School dropouts are reduced as children get more hours of study and have been observed to perform better in electrified households.
Locked classrooms on a school day, due to low attendance
![Enrolment is low due to lack of electrification]()
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Eradication of Poverty: There has been a significant increase in people’s earnings after electrification in most developing countries, with an India-focused study quoting increase in household per capita income by nearly 38.6 percent over time. It also measured a decrease in the poverty rate by 13.3 percent.
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Women Empowerment: There is statistical evidence that the introduction of television in rural households has positive outcomes for women empowerment - with reduction in fertility, increase in autonomy, changing attitudes towards domestic violence and decrease in preference for a male child
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Time Savings: There is reduction of time spent on fuelwood collection, encouraging pursuit of other activities.
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Reduction of crime rate due to better lighting and accessibility
Economic Impact
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Monetary Savings: Substituting electric lighting for kerosene lamps has a quantifiable health benefit of $2.50 per household, adding up lost work days and mortality due to respiratory sickness, according to a World Bank report.
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Increasing productivity: Villagers can work till late evenings due to availability of light. It can lead to an estimated increase of employment hours by 17% for men
- New Sources of Livelihood
- Promotion of Rural Entrepreneurship
Post-Campaign
- Roll out mini grid in other villages
Other Ways You Can Help
Even if you can’t contribute, it doesn’t mean you can’t help:
Yes, that’s all there is to it. Contact us with queries at @SolarSoldiers.
Team for this campaign:
Kanika Khanna:
- Founder, Sunkalp Energy
- Previous Experience at Cummins Inc.
- MS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- BE, Delhi College of Engineering
Ravi Kiran:
- MBA: Great Lakes Institute of Energy Management
- BE, Vellore Institute of Technology University
Aakriti Gupta:
- Previous Experience at McKinsey & Company
- MBA Candidate, IIM Calcutta
Thanikachalam MC
- Previous Experience at Exide Batteries
- B.Tech, Central Electrochemical Research Institute
Shalabh Srivastava
- MBA, Great Lakes Institute of Technology
- B.Tech, MPCT