Project Jhabua is a community-based rural empowerment project, following the principle of parmarth (highest good of others). After paying regular visits, conducting surveys in more than 15 villages, and empathizing with the Bhil community, our team identified & validated various problems in diverse domains from health to education to agriculture to the environment. Consultation from professors, CRDT at IIT Delhi, BDTC, DAVV Indore and Shivganga organization led us towards the biogas plant as the most appropriate and plausible solution overcoming many of the existing problems and creating qualitatively substantial impact.
Problems identified :
1.Conventional sources of fuel for cooking pose serious health issues, especially for women and children. The long exposure to smoke
which is 5 hrs/day causes the death of around 5,00,000 individuals per year and about 3 years of a shortened life.
2.217 million tonnes of firewood is consumed per year in India which leads to environmental degradation.
3.Farmers are compelled to migrate to cities for secondary sources of income due to the seasonal nature of farming to render debts, which traps them in the never-ending debt cycle.
We would set up household-level fixed dome biogas plants and simultaneously revive the already established biogas plants. The two products : gas and slurry offer many services.
1.Biogas, being a clean fuel, the health hazards due to the smoke emitted by previous cooking fuels like wood and cow dung is eliminated.
2.The efforts, time and discomforts involved in procuring firewood for burning are reduced which is an important benefit related to the health of villagers.
3.The slurry produced would be utilized to increase the outreach of organic farming practices as well as enhance the process of vermicomposting, which would not only enrich the soil and water table but also provide farmers an opportunity to sell their produce at higher rates in the organic market.
4.The surplus slurry would be sold directly via B2B and B2C channels, which would provide farmers a secondary source of income throughout the year.
5.Construction of biogas plants, setting up the entire slurry chain from procurement to delivery would involve the local men and women of the villages, thereby generating employment at their native place.
Each Biogas plant setup cost Rs 20,000/- which should be implemented in association with “Shivganga Samgraha Gram Vikas Parishad”, founded by Padma Shri Mahesh Sharma ji and NCST (National Commission for scheduled tribes) president, Harsh Chauhan ji.
Our project fulfils **10 SDGs**-
1. No poverty, 3. Good health and well being, 5. Gender equality, 6. Clean water and sanitation, 7. Affordable and clean energy, 8. Decent work and economic growth, 11. Sustainable cities and communities, 13. Climate action, 15. Life on land, 17. Partnerships for the goals
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals :
-
SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy