Your Name and Photograph of yourself/your Business/ etc
General Ravi of the Solar Army
My Mission page: Solar Soldiers: Rescue Mission
My Social Media links
Facebook – www.facebook.com/SolarSoldiers
Twitter – www.twitter.com/SolarSoldiers
If you have a Company/Start up, its URL –
Your therodinhoods.wpengine.com page link (compulsory) –
https://www.therodinhoods.com/profile/Aakriti
What exactly do you do, General Ravi?
I’m a General of the Solar Army, which is marching into the remote vastness of rural UP to rescue it from an unending darkness. Powered by Sunkalp Energy, the army is installing solar mini-grids in these villages to provide a sustainable solution to their electricity crisis. These solar mini-grids will power households, schools, government centers and farms.
Our current mission is village Gulabganj, a small hamlet in Hamirpur district, which has lived without electricity for the last 25 years. With promises made and broken, the villagers had lost all hope, till the Solar Army arrived.
Why do you do what you do? Is it to make money, to become famous, to run away from something, to retire, to kill boredom ?
The Solar Army launched its missions to bring about the change that everyone keeps talking about. We have a firm belief in the power of technology, if brought to the right people at the right time. This belief, coupled with our drive for Social Entrepreneurship, has been the founding idea behind the Solar Soldiers.
Is there anything unique in what you do?
Absolutely! The Solar Army is a one-of-its-kind initiative for rural electrification in India through crowdfunding. We’ve already raised almost $2,500, which is more than 20% of our goal. Also, we can safely call ourself India’s first Rural Electrification campaign through crowdfunding.
The whole idea of a Solar Army for a rural rescue mission through crowdfunding is innovative and new. With this unique concept, we are trying to mobilize people to contribute to a cause and be an intrinsic part of a movement – especially by earning Solar Army ranks for each contribution they make! We’re giving out some exciting perks to each Soldier, take a look through the link.
In fact, our biggest and most exciting perk, of which there’s just one, is the rank of Solar Superhero. Be the Batman to our Gotham City. I, myself a Rodinhood, would be especially delighted in fact to see a Rodinhood with the cape! 😛
What happens if this fails?
We’re halfway with the mission at Gulabganj. With our learning from this mission, we’ll design an even better project for the other villages that need our rescue.
Any one or two incidents that make you shiver or feel proud of your journey so far
Proud – Once the Solar Army got a go-ahead for the Gulabganj project, we were approached by villagers from many neighboring villages who requested us to electrify their homes as well. It was a proud moment to see us enriching lives of the neglected thousands.
Also, many people have approached us ever since we launched the Solar Soldiers campaign on Indiegogo, commending our efforts and making small contributions.
Our campaign was appreciated and shared by a respected Quora member, Balaji Viswanathan on his Quora blog.
Shiver
Visiting the village made us shiver. It felt like a forgotten land – and we soldiers felt embarrassed to be so fortunate while there were others living in such despondence. A very shocking reality we faced was that the village went to sleep at 7.30 at night. Without light or electricity, life came to a standstill by nightfall.
I wanna be a Solar Soldier! How can I join?
Solar Soldiers consists of individuals exactly like the Rodinhoods – from various walks of life striving to break free and make an impact. You want a real impact? Join us!
Its simple.
- Go to our Indiegogo page – remember only 30 odd days are left!
- Choose your contribution from a list of options
- You earn a rank on the basis of the impact you deliver!
- With each rank, you get rewarded with exciting perks, that you’ll be proud to show off!
- Plus, if you really can’t make a contribution (or have, and just want to help us out further) you can spread word about us – through Twitter (tag us @SolarSoldiers) or Facebook.
- We also have a thunderclap you can help deliver!
I want YOU, rodinhood!
State one really bad habit and one good habit (if you actually have one)
The Solar Army was formed in 2 days. Would you believe that? Once we decided what we want, we worked out the plan as we went along. We are a brilliant team of doers – and tend to get super excited about new ideas. But therein lies the danger. Or so we’re told. 🙂
Famous last words to the readers?
“Let there be Light.”
Finally, say YES below the next para:
I solemnly put my hand on my religious book/favorite novel and swear that what I have said above (including my photos) is the truth. So help me, Rodinhood.
Yes.
Aman Jha
Wow,
This General Ravi is even better than our Commander-in-Chief…lol…
You are doing a commendable job, hats off to you!
Regards
Perzen Darukhanawalla
Aakriti,
This is a great step and a very interesting way to Gamify funders for your campaign. Big kudos! Since you are looking for funding you may also be interested in applying for the Artha Venture Challenge – it is an opportunity to secure 25 lakh match funding. I represent a company called Ennovent and would like to connect with you offline and figure out how we help you spread the word about your campaign.
saravana kumar
Great post about a wonderful initiative!
BTW…General Ravi, could you please change the two India maps (Electricity & Total Fertility Rate) in your Indegogo page, since they seem inaccurate (J&K)?
And congratulations & best of luck for your venture.
Kanika Khanna
Salute to General Ravi of the Solar Soldiers!
Aakriti
Aman,
Well, the Commander-in-chief handles the entire country and our General is taking care of one village at a time. Nevertheless, thanks so much for your comment!
Oh, and did we mention, we plan to electrify a 100 villages in 2 years? 🙂
Aakriti
Well, I see a lot of comments pouring in commending us on the job, and here I’d like to highlight that project is being led by Kanika Khanna, the founder of Sunkalp Energy. She’s here in the comments too! 😛
Also, our General Ravi is an actual member of the team – he works on Solar Energy solutions and his name in Ravi Kiran – literally meaning “Sun Rays”. Talk about being cut out for a job!
Sanjaya Choudhary
Aakriti ,
Something well bean is half done. I am very passionate about Remote Area Electrification and i have been doing my bit in Bihar . Not any big break throughs but where there is . complete darkness after Sunset , glowing a few lights is also a well done project. I quit my corporate life and traveling known and unknown terrains. I have hands on experience in solar PV and /thermal/Biogas …. technicalities and social engineering , me ready 24×7. . Just as from Husk (Biomass) Desi power is able to provide over 100 installation in Bihar providing over 5MW of decentralized power generation.
Why not develop some synergy . But for pitching for the funds , i have good hands on experience.
In the RPO segment i have installed many 100kw plants . As most of the schemes i focused as a NGO were predominantly Govt funds based … hence could not pierce the vicious cycle or not very prepared to add one more scam
to the already tainted Solar World of Bihar. I am an ex pat from Chennai.
Although not very young , but anytime ready to be coached by Rodinhooders … lovly forum.
I am touched, moved and inspired by your begining , i see a great end. I am keen to learn more and see if i can join you as an ordinary soldier. You are welcome. I can share my experiences of over two decades in Renewable Energy field.
Nitish Mehta
My recommendation will be to meet this guys , they are NCFA India give my reference to them, I guess they will help you , I will personally message them about this project. And you can read this article , it will help you a lot for your crowd-funding campaign.
Regards,
Nitish Mehta
asha chaudhry
hey aakriti & kanika…
any updates on what you’ve been doing??!