These five Bengaluru teenagers celebrate Christmas by lighting up a village with solar lamps
This Christmas, a village in Karnataka will glitter with lights for the first time. Thanks to the Deepam Initiative taken up by five teens from Bengaluru to bring light into the lives of those living in Kaiwara village, 140 solar bulbs will be installed along the main road of the village located in the Chikkaballapur district.
The initiative was started by four 11th standard students, Aditya S Prasad, Nishal Harve, Eshaan Bhandari, Karan Taj and a first year Law student, Vaishakh G Datta. Through concerted online and offline campaigns, they raised Rs 26 lakhs to fund their project of installing 70 LED solar lamp posts in the remote village.
Seventeen-year-old Aditya, in an interview with the Times of India said, “At our school, we would contribute for Diwali every year by giving rice and money for the underprivileged. That made me think that I can do something everlasting for some village. We brainstormed and came up with the idea of providing street lights for a village near Bengaluru. Kaiwara, which houses many government offices, was chosen because of its footfall.”
They were able to pull off the whole project through perfect division of labour. Aditya took care of funding and finance, while Vaishakh approached corporate firms and took care of legal aspects. Nihal managed the civil work, while Karan and Eshaan were in charge of getting contributions and resources from firms outside Karnataka. Thanks to their collective effort, Kaiwara will soon be lit up with solar lamps.
To stay updated with more positive news, please connect with us on Facebook.