An Impromptu Trek By Two Backpackers Is Now Impacting 1600+ Lives In Arunachal Pradesh; Here’s How
While reliable electricity in rural areas still remain a distant dream for many, two friends are on a mission to lit up the dark homes and lives of the people in the northeastern region of country’s Arunachal Pradesh. Rajiv Rathod and Merwyn Coutinho have a lifestyle that ditches the conventional way of living. In 2011 when the duo set out on an impromptu trip to the remote village of Gandhigram in Arunachal Pradesh, they fell in love with the lush green forests and its hilly terrains. Little did the trekkers know that over the years, they would end up bringing light into the homes of villages which had never experienced electricity.
During their stay there, they noted that when night fell, they realised that the village had no access to electricity. Households relied on firewood to keep their homes lit after dark. The villagers would also borrow their torches and other lighting equipment. This is when Rajiv and Merwyn decided to “light up” the homes in the villages.
When the duo from Bengaluru returned to Gandhigram for Christmas the following year, they took over 200 solar-powered lights for installation as gifts. This goodwill gesture in return for a little warmth and hospitality breathed life into The Batti Project, which has lit up 1600+ houses in Arunachal till date. “The people there had never experienced electricity. We had to teach them to use the switchboards. The experience was overwhelming,” says Coutinho told Arunachaltimes as he recalls how the extraordinary journey began.
Soon after, in 2012, The Batti Project officially took off when seven houses in Lower Dibang Valley’s Dopuwa village were lit up for the first time with solar panel kits. “More people kept coming. It wasn’t our job to provide electricity to them, but as I said earlier, the response was overwhelming and it motivated us to keep going,” Coutinho added.
“We went back to some villages we had given solar-powered lighting too. Some people had packed them up and would only bring them out on special occasions and festivities. Some had taken them to their houses in nearby towns, saying that they did not like light after sunset in the village,” Rajiv told the publication.
While Merwyn usually takes care of surveying each village, identifying households as well as young trainable people in the village, Rajiv handles the funding, logistics and back-end. The duo want to light up more villages in the Arunachal Pradesh and move to other states in the North-East, like Nagaland and Meghalaya. They have also teamed up with Technical University of Munich (TUM) to light up the 50-student government primary residential school of Jumupani village in Lower Dibang Valley district.
According to a report published in BBC, a village is considered electrified if 10% of its homes and all public buildings are connected to the grid. No wonder, the World Bank figures show around 200 million people in India still lack access to electricity.
About The Batti Project
Batti is an initiative to provide basic lighting for North East India’s most remote inhabitants. Formed to support the existing landscape of lighting methods, Batti strives for change that is sustainable, according to its LinkdIn profile.
So far, Batti has installed solar-powered home-lighting-systems in 282 homes across 30 villages of the Idu Mishmi tribe. The Idu Mishmi’s home range extends through the Lower Dibang Valley the Eastern Himalayas of Arunachal Pradesh.