Access to clean and affordable energy gives a new lease of life to Santhal community

By Saroj Deo, UN Trainee

June 17, 2019

Until recently, a question kept hovering over my head: what does development mean? It means many things to many people. Some would speak of highways, airports and stadiums; for others, they do not mean anything. At least after my recent visit to one of Nepal’s most underprivileged communities, I feel that development is about “leaving no one behind”. For over 800 million people around the world living in poverty, it is still the basic things: water, energy, food and shelter. This is true to every 20 out of hundred Nepalis.

My visit to this Santhal community in the eastern Tarai was quite revealing. The Santhals, who have long been living in extreme poverty, dominate the settlements in Ward 2 and 7 of Jahada Rural Municipality. The lifestyle of this tribal community is quite simple. When I saw first-hand the conditions they were living under, it was quite an unpleasant experience for me. They led an uncertain life under poorly maintained huts; many of them were landless. A dirt road and a bamboo bridge link the village to the rest of the world. The only lifeline, the bridge, however, gets swept away by monsoon floods almost every year, disconnecting the villagers from other areas. During every monsoon, the Santhals also lose their huts as the floodwater inundates the entire area. Most of the people in the community are underemployed and illiterate.

I could, however, see that despite the material deprivations, their culture was very rich and their hearts innocent. There was a time when they used to live near the jungle and hunting was a major occupation for them.

The day I visited the Santhal community, the villagers were preparing to inaugurate their first solar mini-grids, which were installed with the joint effort of the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) and UNDP’s Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihoods. There were two solar mini-grids, one in Bipur (8kWP) and another in Mahaburuna (5kWP). We could clearly see the local people’s excitement and their natural smiles the way they were enthusiastically welcoming guests and performing cultural shows.

There were a few local women and one of them said, “I had not imagined I would ever see solar power lighting our village.” Another woman from the community, Sunita Santhal, said, “We spent best part of our live without electricity. But I am happy for our children. They can study well and do much better to lift their lives to another level.”

The solar mini-grids, given their reliable power supply, did not just provide them with light, but also enabled them to use powerful machines and electronic devices. The locals have started initiating income-generation activities and small-scale enterprises where they could work during the nights as well.

“A big thanks to the development partners for bringing power and lights to this community that needed them the most,” said Rajesh Shrestha, Chair of Ward 2, Jahada Rural Municipality.“The clean energy has ushered in new hopes and smiles to the Santhal community. We will continue to work for the most marginalized and deprived communities because this is where the real development should begin.”