TEZPUR, June 14 � Dhruvraj Bhartia, a 17-year-old from Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai, is proof that all teenagers in India are not getting lost to modern gadget and the social media.
It is to be mentioned here that since 2010, Dhruvraj has been a Senior Youth Ambassador with Project Chirag, an initiative of Chirag Rural Development Foundation, a Mumbai-based NGO. Project Chirag started by a group of college students is involved in providing solar lighting to villages deprived of electricity and in the last five years has worked in more than 45,000 villagers across six States in India.
Dhruvraj chose to challenge himself beyond the villages of Maharashtra and for months has been working on a fund collection drive to light up one village in Assam and his dream finally turned to reality as Nezone Biscuits, Tezpur agreed to sponsor the solar units. Accordingly on June, 8 -9, Dhruvraj along with Jyotirmoy Chatterji, Co-Founder of Project Chirag, single handedly set up 165 solar lamp units in four villages near Dhekiajuli in Assam and brought light into homes that have forever been in darkness having never seen electricity. The tiny villages that are blessing the children are Kamarpathar, Sirajuli, Bordubi and Habigaon.
�Renewable energy is the way forward in rural India. Twenty five per cent of India is steeped in poverty. If each able citizen contributes towards benefiting one family, we could truly develop an inclusive economy," Said Dhruvraj very passionately and added that they have explained to the villagers how to use the lights and maintain it over a period of time. They also ensured that not only all questions of the villagers were answered regarding the usage of solar lights but actually went to a few homes to help them set up the units and understand how to install it. The villagers were delighted to receive the solar lights and shared that the lights would help them in several walks of life. The team is looking forward to scaling up the initiative further and lighting up more villages in remote parts of Assam with support from corporates, individuals and in partnership with educational institutes.
�If I as a young student can dream of a change and work towards it, then we will definitely be able to fuel the fire in the future citizens of India and it is then that the country will race towards being a fully developed nation,� an earnest Dhruvraj said.
�This young boy has truly shown commendable leadership and sensitivity towards the society. He has travelled from one end of the country to another just to help the needy villagers and students by bringing hope into their lives with the solar lamps,� said Dr Nathmal Tibrewal, senior journalist in a welcome meeting held within Habigaon village by Nilesh Agarwal of the Friends of Tribal Society, Tezpur Anehal.
