Jagriti Yatra 2015 — Day 2 — Dharwad.

The day started with me getting up to find all my people in my compartment ready and the train being stationed in Dharwad station on Karnataka. With breakfast being served at the Dharwad station, I got ready quickly grabbed a quick bite of breakfast — Idly and Sandwiches.

Btw not to mention the great vegetarian food we have been receiving in the Yatra three times a day adding to the snacks and tea. The catering staff and the people who serve food are amazing. Serving and cooking food for 600 people three times a day and maintaining the taste and the quality is not easy and also logistically serving for all the compartments is not easy. Immense Gratitude to them. Now about the day,

First half of the day:
Started of by going for a 20 km ride to a village called Kalkeri where there was a Kalkeri sangeeth Vidhyalay. There were resource persons from SELCO which was the brain child of Dr. Harish Sande. His vision being to electrify India through solar power. Personally I am not sure if solar energy is the only alternative that can be practised as things life bio gas etc are viable and cheap but the things that selco does was really really amazing that I need to dedicate a separate note to it. Anyway I shall try to put it in some bullet points.

1. Their business model is such that they forge parternships with banks to give solar loans to the needy who dosent have power. 
They build the trust with the bank that the farmers will pay back the loan through numerous customized methods. One such being empowering the person who is being electrified by adding value to his/ her life and thereby increasing the livelihood of the person. 
Eg: if a persons skill is to weave baskets that family could weave more baskets than it weaves if it dosent have power because it can use the light to build baskets at night. 
This is just one example. There are cases where even SELCO pays the bank before hand the money of the solar module and as and when the family pays back the bank, SELCO recovers it. There were many sustainable models that was really thoughtful. 
P.S: we were discussing how today when Kingfishers and others who borrow thousands of crores and are not able to repay the money, How SELCO makes sure the lowest strata of society has access to power, finance and and also enable them the means to pay the money back.

2. They customize their products heavily to suit the needs of the consumer. When there is no need to install a 12000Rs module they instl a 4000rs module when the need is that. Hence SELCO dosent manufacture solar products but they assemble it to the needs of the consumer.

3. Their whole concept of how people at the bottom of the pyramid should not seen as a business market or people who can be exploited for money nor how they should be just treated as somebody who only are beneficiaries of charities but must be empowered by the service they receive from SELCO.

4.They also have a SELCO foundation which not only deals with energy problems but also other problems like education, skill etc etc. Their technologies and the curriculums and the modules they have in the foundation s mindblowing. All the research papers and the work they do are open source that anyone can use their model and help to replicate it. They even do have a incubation center where they incubate entrepreneurs who instead of reinventing the wheel can just get help from SELCO and start up. Solar powered projectors, model schools with some really scientific curriculum etc.
All their papers , business models, education models are open source. They seem to have stuff available in their website that one can look up to. They are not planning to scale up but are looking to consolidate and have a strong presence in Karnataka and have sparing presence in other parts of the country.

It was great to know how SELCO recruits people for this cause keeping in mind the motivation of the person at the center and not what the person is it has done.
There were couple of people Adhithi and Shanthi who gave us the presentation. One could see the passion inside them when they speak and the clarity in their thoughts.

Second half of the day: 
We were iintroduced to the Kalkeri Sangeeth Vidhyalay. Brilliant concept where they teach music and academics together. Residential school for rural children. Completely free of cost. Run by a person called Adam- who settled in India in search of his inner peace 
Its run through a trust and there are people from countries and India who volunteer there along with the regular set of teachers whom they employ. It was wonderful to hear the kids, teachers and the people who run the schop speak and to know their experience.

Later in the day prof. Dr. Karunakaran who is a PhD in presented his idea of Rural Economic Zones. Was overwhelming idea of how he proposes Community scaling of technology.
Eg: A cotton farmer who produces cotton also not only produces cotton but also does the second stage and the third stage process in the creation of the cotton cloth. This will increase his profits 2 times more at a low investment. Also for large scale processes in the village itself to take of these. I am sure if this comes up our rural villagees will be more equipped. One should go on the internet to look up at Dr. Karunakaran and his REZ rural economic zone concept. He has also invited people at his institute at Vadhra in Maharashtra and to visit the villages nearby to see his Idea in action.

He talked about how stable exonomy should be the focus and not balloon economy or populism. His analogy to how if one person comes and says to a group that ROAD A is very nice to travel and looks so good, the whole group travels in that road thereby making it crowded and losing the whole purpose. How he says we should move from populism to stability was also interesting if we want to keep the long term future in mind. 
Also about how of farmers are empowered locally, would build a better life style for them rather than they working in a metro city for menial jobs.

We ended the day with hhavin a reflection circle in our own group and also singing some songs and taking in each other. I must also mention the innovative bathrooms that has been set up in the train to take bath. Was fun being in it.

My language and articulation may be bit chaotic. Its because I am typing these from mobile as and when I get time so that I get into the habit. Apologies if it has been bit confusing. I shall try and post it in the coming days as well.

We are excited to head to Bangalore on day 3 to meet some really great people. Looking Forward