Nestled in the folds of towering mountains in Rajasthan’s Nichlagarh panchayat, the village where Thavri Devi grew up once knew nothing but darkness. Days melted into nights without the flicker of a bulb. Life was dictated by the rhythms of the sun, and when it set, so did the village’s activity.
Thavri’s world was shaped by the dust of unpaved roads, the hush of mud huts, and the silence of evenings without light. Her family survived on meagre earnings from her husband’s work as a construction labourer. Pulled out of school after Class 5, her days revolved around household chores and tending sheep—her dreams kept as small and contained as the flickering flames of kerosene lamps.
Then came an opportunity that sparked more than just curiosity—it ignited a quiet rebellion. A five-month solar engineering training programme was being launched in Harmada, and the village needed women to participate. Amid the hesitant murmurs of tradition and the weight of generational norms, her name came up.
No woman from her community had ever travelled alone. And yet, Thavri went.
As she boarded her first train en route to Kishangarh, a crowd gathered. Women wept. Men watched silently. Her journey was more than a physical one; it was a step into a future her village hadn’t dared imagine.
Powering Change, One Panel at a Time
In Harmada, Thavri was introduced to the world of circuits, solar panels, batteries, and wiring. She fumbled. She learned. She succeeded.
Returning to her village, she brought more than technical skills—she carried light. Literally.
She became a solar engineer. Her work now powers her community. She earns a monthly income of ₹5,700, and with it comes a newfound status, pride, and influence. Her children look at her differently. Her village sees her as a pioneer. She is no longer just a caretaker of goats—she’s a bearer of energy, agency, and change.
Thavri’s journey is far from unique. It’s part of a growing grassroots energy revolution that has transformed over 300 rural women across 10 states—including Jharkhand, West Bengal, Mizoram, and Nagaland—into certified solar engineers. These women don’t just install solar panels; they repair, maintain, and power up their communities with confidence, grit, and technical know-how.
The Man Behind the Movement
At the centre of this transformative wave is Harsh Tiwari, director of EMPBindi International. Once a corporate engineer chasing deadlines in boardrooms, Harsh’s perspective changed during a rural fellowship with the State Bank of India. Immersed in India’s heartland, he witnessed the stark contrast between urban privilege and rural potential. He saw talent waiting to be unleashed, solutions waiting to be implemented.
That clarity led to a pivot—away from corporate comfort and into the grassroots trenches.
Harnessing his engineering background, Harsh launched a training programme designed to empower women in regions where electricity was intermittent or absent. The programme was audacious in its simplicity: take a skill traditionally dominated by men, break it down, and make it practical, accessible, and empowering for women.
Over five months, women learn everything from soldering and fault-detection to battery setup and panel installation. And it’s not just theory. Trainees build lighting systems dozens of times until they can do it with the ease of tying a sari. By the end, they earn a certification from the Ministry of Renewable Energy, formally recognising them as solar engineers.
More Than Light: A New Model of Power
These women are now the go-to energy experts in their villages. If a panel fails, they fix it. If a system falters, they diagnose it. And they don’t stop there.
EMPBindi’s model builds two distinct yet connected groups: solar engineers, who serve as village-level technicians and infrastructure managers, and solar sakhis, who take the entrepreneurial baton to surrounding areas.
It’s a hub-and-spoke model—engineers form the solid hub keeping the village lit, while sakhis act as mobile spokes, expanding access to new technologies, promoting livelihood-based solar solutions, and engaging in customer outreach. Some help introduce solar-powered irrigation systems; others bring in solar dryers for produce or solar cookstoves for cleaner kitchens.
This adaptability ensures women can shift roles based on their mobility, interests, or aspirations. Whether they stay in the village or travel to neighbouring ones, their work carries weight.
Illuminating Mindsets and Breaking Moulds
Convincing families to allow women to join the programme wasn’t easy. It took rounds of community meetings, assurances of safety, and, above all, persistence.
But once trained, these women returned as forces of nature. Their newfound roles disrupted the old order. One woman, newly certified, walked into a male-dominated panchayat meeting and pulled up a chair for herself at the centre. She didn’t wait to be asked. She claimed her space and declared her authority.
Stories like these are now common across the villages touched by EMPBindi’s programme. Gender roles are shifting. Children are seeing their mothers not just as homemakers but as engineers, changemakers, and leaders.
The numbers tell part of the story: 3,000 households, schools, and health centres now powered; 6,000 solar devices distributed. But the bigger impact is harder to quantify—it’s in the quiet confidence of a woman who once feared travelling alone, now fixing panels in multiple homes. It’s in the glint of pride in a daughter’s eyes when she watches her mother lead a workshop.
A Future Lit by Women
For Harsh, the goal is much bigger than rural electrification. It’s about rewriting the narrative of who gets to bring change. The hope is to scale this model sustainably, nurturing a future where rural women lead the charge in adopting clean, decentralised energy solutions.
When villages are lit by systems built and maintained by local women, the impact is not just electrical—it’s cultural, social, and deeply personal. It’s about more than energy access; it’s about empowerment, economic resilience, and self-determination.
This isn’t just a story of lighting homes. It’s a story of lighting lives.
And in places that once knew only darkness, these women are becoming the brightest stars.