IIT-Bombay students come up with novel gift gesture to provide solar study lamps
Mumbai: Students of Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) have created an initiative to provide 70 lakh solar study lamps to remote villages in five states Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. Villagers including women and youth are being trained by IIT-B students to repair and create these lamps for continuous development.
These lamps work on solar energy apart from providing light can be used as charging device for electronic devices like mobile phones. Initially, over one lakh lamps were created by students along with the guidance from their faculty. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, has sanctioned these lamps which aims to benefit over 70 lakh students.
Students, research associates and faculty have created an in-house unit called Solar Urja through Localisation for Sustainability (SOULS) at IIT-B. Sana Rahman, a research associate, said, “We aim to create devices which are local and affordable for the people. We want people to have access to the ordinary facilities at an economic rate so that the common man can afford it.”
Students claimed they want to focus on localisation, affordability and sustainability through SOULS. Harshad Supal, a student said, “Solar energy is easily available and is a renewable source of energy. People think harnessing solar energy is expensive so we want to create devices which are cost effective and can last for a longer duration.”
In order to make the villagers self reliant, students are conducting training sessions to educate villagers to create, manage and repair these devices on their own. “We cannot always cater to these remote villages personally so we are training villagers to manage these devices and create more on their own in simple methods,” Supal added.
Apart from this initiative, students are also working on creating devices like checking haemoglobin without pricking or piercing for a blood sample, solar cooking, home lighting and water pumping which work on renewable sources of energy. A student said, “If we are provided necessary funding and support by the government we can create devices which can help develop the undeveloped and marginalised sections of society.”
Source: freepressjournal.in
