Over 78 million households (or roughly 390 million lives) in India lack access to electricity, causing life to come to a standstill after dusk. Inadequate lighting is not only an impediment to progress and development opportunities, but also has a direct impact on the health, environment, and safety of millions of villagers as they are forced to light their homes with kerosene lamps, dung cakes, firewood, and crop residue after sunset. Recognizing the need to change the existing scenario in rural India, TERI has initiated “Lighting a Million Lives” (LaML) Campaign in rural India through the use of solar lighting devices. The Campaign has been launched at The Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, held in New York during 26-28 September 2007

The Campaign targets to bring light into the lives of one million rural people in India by displacing the kerosene lanterns with solar lighting devices, thereby facilitating education of children; providing better illumination and kerosene smoke free indoor environment for women to do household chores; and providing opportunities for livelihoods both at the individual level and at village level.

To initiate the LaML Campaign, TERI has identified villages in South 24 Paraganas district in West Bengal, Kamrup district in Assam and Keongjar district in Orissa. More villages are currently being identified in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh to spread the Campaign.

TERI would invite likeminded corporations and other organizations to sponsor the campaign and be its patron. The sponsorship packages include the cost of solar lanterns and solar torches, capacity building and training, and campaign outreach. While the solar lanterns would go to rural households, the solar torches, a green product, would go to the sponsor who could distribute them as corporate gift to its associates and to its own employees to highlight the objectives of the LaML Campaign.

TERI will put in place an effective process to monitor the progress of the LaML Campaign, including sharing the beneficial experience of rural households with TERI and the sponsor on a regular basis.

Sponsorship packages

The 'Lighting a million lives' campaign allows corporations to contribute towards sustainable development through the following sponsorship opportunities.

Contact
Akanksha Chaurey
akanksha@teri.res.in

The Energy and Resources Institute
Darbari Seth Block, IHC Complex
Lodhi Road, New Delhi - 110 003
Tel.   2468 2100 or 41504900
Fax   24682144 or 24682145
          India +91 1 Delhi (0)11