When villages plug in
The latest Down To Earth report on how communities in Nepal have demanded their right to energy. It provides lessons for countries like India, keen on building decentralised systems and reinventing energy futures.
In Nepal, lost in the chaos of political upheavals, a silent revolution is afoot. In remote villages of this mountainous and energy-starved country people are demanding their right to electricity. They say electricity is a national good; everyone must have a right to it.
This is not to say Nepal has enough electricity for all. It is crippled by hours of power cuts. But the question is: if there is some, who should get it? Only the urban Nepal connected to the grid or the entire country? A notification offered an answer.
For full text: http://downtoearth.org.in/cover.asp?foldername=20100515&filename=news&si...
See Also
Opinion: The right to energy movement.
http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/blog/nepals-right-energy-movement-l...
Report: Rural Energy Policy 2006.
www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/305115
Weblink: Energy Promotion Centre.
http://www.aepc.gov.np/
Report: Paper on community energy service provider.
www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/305120
Report: Rural energy development programme - Impacts.
http://www.redp.org.np/phase2/pdf/impactsandcontricution.pdf
Feature: The value of cooperatives in rural electrification.
www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/301716
Report: A report on energy injustice.
