Milaap loan is helping Chinta improve her son’s quality of life
During my visit to Parwalpur, a village in Nawada district of Bihar, I met Chinta Devi who has taken a loan of Rs. 4845 from Milaap to install a 75W TERI solar home lighting system. TERI solar home lighting system comes with 2 LED bulbs, a mobile charger with multi charging ports and a chulha (the primary traditional cooking stove made of mud used for indoor cooking in rural India) with a fan which reduces the smoke while cooking.
Chinta Devi is a 48 year old married woman. She has one child. The kid is studying in 3rd standard in one of the best schools of the area. Her husband is into trading business of goats, cows and buffaloes, which he buys from the villages and then sells them to city markets and earns a handsome profit out of that.
Chinta’s village is one of those villages in the world which is still waiting for electricity in the 21st century. The village has never had electricity supply. So the only option available for the villagers is either to depend on kerosene oil or battery operated or chargeable emergency lights. But the problem with battery operated or chargeable light is that they are very costly. And since there is no power in the village so the villagers have to go out to the nearby market and get it recharged and have to pay money every time they do it. The story was the same for Chinta’s family. But then they got to know about the solar home lighting system given by CDOT (Milaap’s field partner) on EMIs and the family decided to install one.
The family installed the solar home lighting system 13 months ago. And since then the family is enjoying many benefits of the home lighting system. Chinta says, “After the installation it is quite easy for me to cook in the night. Earlier I used to cook under kerosene lamps which was very difficult. My child can study without any difficulty now. He is no more exposed to the poisonous smoke of kerosene. One of the major benefits of the installation is that now we don’t have to go out for mobile battery charging and pay Rs. 5 every time, we can do it at our place whenever we want. So we are saving money on that. We don’t use kerosene anymore which ensures that my family is no longer subjected to the fumes and the health hazards that kerosene poses. And the kerosene oil which we get at a subsidised rate from the government through our BPL (below poverty line) ration card is being utilised for irrigation purpose. So we are saving money on diesel as well.” So overall, it is a win - win situation for the family. Chinta thanked Milaap and CDOT for the support and the installation.
