Sachin Tendulkar Helps Light India's Villages

      Sachin Tendulkar, an Indian cricket (the most popular sport in India) player widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen in One Day International, has helped bring light into lives of over thousand residents of Velunje, in Nashik.

Boys in South India playing "Cricket"

Last year, the villagers were specially selected for a pilot project, where they are provided with electricity through free solar home lighting kits, in courtesy to a non-profit organization "Spreading Happiness." Encouraged by the pilot project's results, currently Schneider Electric, a French-based energy company, has another location in India and is offering similar benefits to over 25,000 villages across the country to celebrate Tendulkar's 40th birthday this Wednesday.
     This initiative actually has been started when Tendulkar was introduced to Schneider Electric's "In-Diya Lighting System," an innovative, affordable and flexible solution to bring reliable, efficient and green lighting to people living without proper electricity access. "In-Diya is a specially designed LED-based lighting system that operates on main power supply and/or solar power. It provides a backup of 8-15 hours for indoor use with 50,000 hours of lighting across its life-cycle," said an official.
      Aware of such challenges faced by many Indian villages, Tendulkar expressed a desire to Schneider Electric to help use "In-Diya" to light up the lives of Indian villagers, whom have been living in the darkness for years. "Sachin Tendulkar and Schneider Electric India have come together for 'Spreading Happiness,' a non-profit organization, to provide access to rural electrification by installing solar home lighting systems for the benefit of over 25,000 villagers in India," Schneider Electric said in a release. "This initiative has already begun a pilot project in Nashik and is currently impacting over 1,000 villagers," it added. Commenting on the initiative, Tendulkar said: "As a country, we cannot have our citizens still struggle with darkness in their lives with the setting of the sun. We have to use advancements in technology and the capabilities of international majors like Schneider Electric to deploy solutions which can brighten the lives of our countrymen."

Sachin Tendulkar