With 100% tribal population, for the Ikhrichapada village in Palghar district of Maharashtra, a compact tiny hamlet with limited agricultural development due to lack of access to water, the future was bleak.But a unique intervention idea allowed the villagers to not only better their lives but engage in full-time work and lift their families and the hamlet out of poverty.
Ikhrichapada was poorly electrified, and load shedding was common, occurring for more than 12 hours a day and during monsoons there was no electricity at all. Located in the interior rural area, much beyond the forests, the hamlet is quite cut-off from the closest town and faces multiple challenges. Project Chirag’s initial idea was to wholly and effectively use solar electrification as a pivot to generate means for livelihood while addressing the core issues- access to livelihood, improvement in health and sanitation, electrification of households.
With no access to water, and the need to ensure that at least 50% of the people of this village had access to livelihood opportunities, a livelihood centre based on solar energy, offering opportunities like rice hulling, flour grinding and making of patravali plates (plates made out of broad dried leaves), was proposed. These machines were decided by the villagers themselves based on local needs as well as agriculture and forest produce available.
The intervention has ensured that 100% villagers get access to pure drinking water and electrification. Water for domestic use was provided through tap outlets and clean water for cooking and drinking was provided using an ultrafiltration unit. Water-borne diseases are prevented and school dropout rates have reduced.

We encouraged the villagers and also made them realize that means to a livelihood, don’t have to be limited to the scope of agriculture, they can think beyond the conventional work​

-Pratibha Pai, founder of Project Chirag​
With no access to water, and the need to ensure that at least 50% of the people of this village had access to livelihood opportunities, a livelihood centre based on solar energy, offering opportunities like rice hulling, flour grinding and making of patravali plates (plates made out of broad dried leaves), was proposed. These machines were decided by the villagers themselves based on local needs as well as agriculture and forest produce available.
The intervention has ensured that 100% villagers get access to pure drinking water and electrification. Water for domestic use was provided through tap outlets and clean water for cooking and drinking was provided using an ultrafiltration unit. Water-borne diseases are prevented and school dropout rates have reduced.

“The water filtration plant consists of a pump submerged inside the lake. It pulls the water through suction up to a height of 80 feet and stores it in an overhead tank of 50,000-litre capacity,” informs Rahul Tivrekar, the founder and director of Diganta Swaraj Foundation.

The plant works on ultra-filtration technology. It’s power-efficient and a good idea for a village that suffers from the irregular electricity supply, he adds. Furthermore, the overhead tank is connected to taps across the village.

As a result, the village of over 500 people and 150 cattle at least have access to clean drinking water now. Though the water for irrigation still falls short.

Having said that, the filtration plant has improved the lives of the womenfolk. “Now with at least six taps installed in the village, we don’t have to go to the lake. Our body and feet don’t hurt and, most importantly, it saves us three hours daily,” says a woman on the condition of anonymity. The extra time has allowed a few of them to now work as housemaids in the adjoining areas.

The availability of clean drinking water has led to a drop in the cases of water-borne diseases in the village. “Earlier our stock of 50 tablets (for cough, fever and dysentery) would last for about two months. But our last stock lasted for eight months!” said the resident ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) worker.

The tap water facility was followed by the construction of public toilets in the hamlet. This has brought down the instances of open defecation and made the women feel safer.

“Earlier, we had to wait till the dark or venture out very early in the morning to the fields. And it was always embarrassing to take someone along to relieve ourselves. [But] after the construction of toilets, we don’t have to worry about our security,” says another woman anonymously.

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The intervention was not only through the sustainable center, but also through giving them access to water (for domestic uses) by taps and clean drinking and cooking water by installing a purification plant that would prevent water-borne diseases that were common earlier. Problems of load-shedding were common so each household received a solar home lighting system. Through the livelihood center the idea was to make them independent and give them the means to a sustainable income. The patravali plates are in great demand as the villagers supply them to the Trimbakeshwar temple town in the nearby Nashik district. Earlier, the villagers and each family would spend nearly an entire month removing the husk from one quintal of rice, but with this machine they can do up to 7 quintals per day. Similarly, there is a huge opportunity in the flour and masala grinder. The atta chakki is also a solar powered intervention, allowing for further income.

The electrical energy received from the grid activates the main control board that draws water from the dam and stores it in the overhead tank. Narendra Ghane, a 30-year-old farmer, who is in charge of operating the main control board, says, “The dam caters to Warghad and Gumbadpada villages. I run the motor for two to three hours every day to meet our requirements and fill up the tank.”

Clean energy and lighting have had far-reaching effects. Around 108 households in Warghadpada today have solar home lighting systems comprising of two bulbs, mobile charging facility and a portable lantern installed under Project Chirag. The farmers are able to save close to Rs100 per litre, which they would earlier spend to run the kerosene lamps. The lamps would also give off dangerous fumes, which the villagers don’t have to put up with any more.

Most importantly, 50 such other villages in 4 blocks of the Palghar district have been identified where a similar model can be replicated for non-agricultural Integrated Village Development.

These sustainability programmes have addressed the issue of migration in this tribal village. Labourers, who had returned to their homes during the pandemic, now grow and sell their farm produce in the open markets.

However, education does remain a challenge and it has suffered further because of the pandemic. On the one hand, schools and junior colleges within the Zila Parishad aren’t fully equipped to impart e-learning. On the other hand, many children haven’t been able to take online classes since the lockdown because their parents do not own a phone, leave a smartphone.

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