One of d.light’s all-star engineers, Erica Estrada, visited villages in MP during January and February, and shared the story below.  The story is relevant because I recently met with the founder and executive director of Gram Vikas, an innovative NGO and pioneer in sanitation work in east India.  They took over the government contract for providing biogas stoves to villages in Orissa and did an incredible job, building over 54,000 biogas plants with an astonishingly high rate of operation.  Hearing Erica’s story reconfirmed my convictions that we need to move quickly to provide private sources of lighting to families, because the switch from kerosene to electricity, both of which are controlled by the government will be slow in the coming.  This is especially true in Northern India.

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While touring a very "off-the-beaten-path" village in MP, we kept noticing these huge concrete structures near people's houses.  The structures came in threes: One concrete dome approximately 5ft in diameter, and 2 concrete tubs each about the size of a western bath tub.  The building materials seemed like an anomaly among the earthen essence of the village houses.  

We asked one of the villagers about the structures, and what their use was.  She explained that it was part of a 'government scheme' to bring bio-gas to villages.  It was a breath of fresh air after seeing the lack in availability of kerosene and the prohibitive price of diesel.  Biofuel--what a great idea!  We started asking the lady how the system worked, and were eager to work our way to finding out the impact it's had on her life.  

The conversation starting dying when we realized that she had no idea how the system worked, and that it had been sitting in her yard for about 5 years.  She explained that this was of no use to her because she doesn't own any kind of gas-lamp or gas-stove!  A few years back the head minister of the state was coming for a visit, and so some thought that it would be a great idea to show-off the 'great work' that they are doing for the local villages.  They started the 'scheme,' the minister came and went, and the work for the scheme ended at about the time the minister was getting back into his car to move to his next stop.   Somewhere in this whirlwind of politics and scheming, they forgot to talk to the villagers and find out whether or not they owned any gas-operated appliances.

And so now these giant concrete structures sit--in the graveyard of government schemes.