Transforming Rural India

Radhika Bhalla | 1

Design’s Potential Role in Transforming Public Services in Rural India

1. Introduction

“

The soul of India lives in its villages

,” said Gandhi in the beginning of the 20

th

Century. My firstencounters with Indian village were from the distance of passing trains, looking out of the windows atthe endless fields and farmers at work. At any given point, there was always some form of life around –a human, a cow, a dog. The picture represented an idyllic view, one reinforced by the portrayal of thevillage in Indian cinema. The village was about big farmhouses and bigger families, ample time on handwith none of the chaos of the cities, a simple life that represented the India in which Gandhi believed. Icould not have been more wrong.

2. Understanding Rural India

My first visit to a village was in one of the most backward districts in Karnataka, India. The HumanDevelopment Index here is comparable to that of sub-Saharan Africa. It was the first time since I had acellphone that I was not connected to the world. There were no cellular operators, no internet and nofixed lines. A public telephone booth in the campus of the non-profit that we stayed in was the onlyform of communication for miles. The villages that we visited were off dirt roads that were difficult toreach by public transportation. Most villages had a Panchayat (village government) office which wasused for all kinds of public meetings. Some villages had a primary school, and fewer had healthdispensaries. The houses varied in size and construction -- from pucca two storied buildings to kachahuts. I could usually find a pay phone in each village, next to a small shop selling basic householdnecessities. The infrastructure was a bare minimum, with no certainty of whether there would beelectricity or water available. This is rural India -- the village as an entity synonymous with extremepoverty.

Radhika Bhalla | 2

3. Transforming Public Services

Rural India is poorly served by both the government and the corporate sector, thus many rural peoplelive in informal settlements, lack access to water and sanitation services, electricity, and basichealthcare. Most have no bank account and no access to financial services other than an informaleconomy dominated by local moneylenders charging exorbitant interest rates. Lack of transportationlimits their access to markets to sell their crops or craft, and they have no choice but to sell tomiddlemen who use unfair means and exploit them. People living in rural India pay much higher pricesfor basic goods and services which are usually of lower quality, not only in the form of money but alsoin the time spent to obtain those goods and services. In order to enable rural India to find its ownroute out of poverty, one needs to look at the existing infrastructure and public services, andunderstand the unmet needs of the people.

3.1

Energy

Rural India lacks access to clean and affordable energy and instead uses inefficient fuels that areharmful to people’s health. There is no electricity in rural India: firewood is the primary source forcooking while kerosene is the predominant fuel source for lighting, and the indoor use of these fuelscase significant health problems. These inefficient sources of energy are also more expensive andgathering the firewood is a time consuming process. This time could be better spent in more importantplaces like at school or at work. Rural electrification initiatives using new technologies like LEDs andimprovements of old devices like biomass burning cook stoves suggest that creative solutions can befound. We are seeing off-grid solutions become more widespread in areas where the public grid doesnot reach at all. In areas where the electricity is erratic, hybrid solutions using hydropower or solarphotovoltaic cells are becoming more popular as designers search for sustainable solutions.(Hammond et al 2007, 77-87)

Radhika Bhalla | 3

3.1.1 SELCO

SELCO provides sustainable energy services to under-served households and businesses in rural India.These include solar lighting and electricity, clean cooking devices and wireless communication. Theybelieve in knowing the needs of their customers and provide at-home design consultation, installationand after-sales service. By owning 25 service centers in key locations, SELCO has managed to provideelectricity to 75,000 homes. Sales and service is decentralized and directly managed by the managersof the local service centers. As a result of local service centers and strong management personnel,they have created a strong distribution channel. SELCO’s business model works mostly because of thecombination of product, service and finance. Using high quality products reduces the cost of serviceand maintenance, and reduces SELCO’s operations costs. They help their customers finance theirpurchase by partnering with rural banks, leasing companies and micro-finance organizations. Themonthly price becomes comparable to using traditional less effective sources. (http://www.selco-india.com/)

3.1.2 IDEAAS

IDEAAS uses social business models to provide rural electrification and renewable energy to the poorrural areas in Brazil that are not on-grid. Development of social processes results in income generationand productive use of energy. They started by developing low cost rural electrification system inPalmares do Sul between 1983 and 1988, as a result of which the cost of providing energy was reducedby 90%. The community worked together setting up poles and wiring that were independent of theconnection to the traditional grid. Forty photovoltaic solar systems were used to cover the entire areawith IDEAAS investing fully in equipment and infrastructure. They used inexpensive materials andsimplified construction methods. Today, this system is common in rural areas all over Brazil, and low-income households rent solar energy thus reducing the cost of the service. (http://www.ideaas.org.br/)