Million Solar Urja Lamps (SoUL) Program… to guarantee clean light to every student in India

Mumbai: The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay has always been a strong advocate for ‘Right to Light’. On successful completion of the much-appreciated Million Solar Urja Lamp (SoUL) programme, Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in the Government of India Mr. Piyush Goyal will visit the Institute on July 2 at 3pm. IIT Bombay has submitted a proposal to MNRE to further expand the project and implement it across the nation.

The large-scale solar lamp programme addressed the issues of scale, speed and skill. Million SoUL focused on the ‘localization of solar energy’ in consonance with Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Make in India’. The objective of this program was to provide clean light for study purpose to every child in the country in the fastest and most cost-effective manner. For this, IIT Bombay partnered with NGOs having presence at grassroot level. Solar study lamps were assembled, distributed, used and repaired by rural people. In order to achieve scale, the model was designed in such a way that it could be replicated in parallel in multiple blocks, across districts and states. For achieving speed, the assembly and distribution for any block was designed to be completed in 90 days. To target skill development, rural people were trained to assemble, distribute and repair the lamps.

The programme was implemented in 2014-16 with financial support from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Resources (MNRE), Government of India and other philanthropic partners like Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and corporates like Idea Cellular Pvt. Ltd. The programme has integrated IIT Bombay’s technical expertise in solar lamp technology, operations, concurrent evaluation and impact analysis.

One million solar study lamps were distributed in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Odisha, covering 23 districts, 97 blocks and 10,900+ villages. There were 54 assembly and distribution centres and 350 Service Repair Centres in operation with 1,409 trained manpower. It was committed to reach the most marginalized communities with its presence in 77% tribal blocks and 83% educationally backward blocks .

A survey conducted in 14,000 households under the MSP revealed that SoUL reduced household kerosene consumption by about 3.5 liters per year, which is around 9-10% of a household’s annual kerosene entitlement. SoUL has ceased usage of kerosene wick lamps for studying for beneficiary students, indirectly reducing its environmental and health hazards. It has created solar awareness in rural intervention blocks, giving people a first-hand experience and has encouraged them to use other solar products. Further, it was found that pass percentage in 10th class has noticeably (up to 10% points) increased from 2013-14 to 2014-15 in the tribal intervention blocks, as compared with tribal non-intervention blocks.

The Million Solar lamp program is headed by Prof. Chetan Singh Solanki from Department of Energy Science and Engineering. Prof. N. C. Narayayanan from Center for Technology Alternatives in Rural Areas (CTARA). Prof. J. Venktesawaran from Industrial Engineering and Operation Research is also fully involved in the project planning and execution.

For further information on MSP, please visit the website: www.millionsoul.iitb.ac.in