Background

In spite of national-level efforts to increase access to electricity, such as the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), many rural and periurban communities in India face considerable challenges when it comes to electricity in the home. For many, electricity is unreliable and unpredictable, while for many others, it is absent. This can create a host of problems for families, hindering activities such as cooking and affecting children’s educational outcomes. Several studies have shown that a lack of electricity can seriously affect children’s ability to learn and study, which can have long-term implications in terms of employment and earning capacity. 

It is therefore important to account for the fact that the lack of lightning is not simply a matter of convenience, but can play a central role in reinforcing cycles of poverty, and in many cases, can hinder personal safety when families opt for cheaper and more hazardous alternatives, like kerosene lamps. It is not simply a question of lighting in the home, but of opportunity, safety, and the right to a safe and conducive environment for children to develop in. 

While access has risen significantly in the last two decades, nearly 7 million people in India still lack reliable sources of energy, according to recent reports by the UN. Frequent outages, financial limitations, and badly maintained infrastructure compound to give rise to a host of issues, as described above. Light Link was created to address precisely this issue. The initiative is grounded in the belief that light is a basic right.