From Dust to Light: Women in Rajasthan Power Villages with Solar Skills

From Dust to Light: Solar Training Brings Hope to Rajasthan's Mining Villages

Santosh Devi has become a source of light — both literal and symbolic — for her small hamlet in western India after completing a three-month solar engineering course at Barefoot College in Tilonia. The programme targets rural women whose husbands are sidelined by chronic illnesses linked to mining work, teaching them practical skills to electrify homes and earn an income.

Learning Practical Skills: At Barefoot College, Santosh and seven other women learned to install photovoltaic panels, wire systems and assemble and repair solar lamps. These skills allow them to power lamps, phone chargers and fans — basic services that materially improve life at home and create a path to financial independence where formal jobs and healthcare are scarce.

"At first, I was very scared. But this training gave me confidence and courage," Santosh said, proudly pointing to three houses where she installed solar panels.

The Human Cost of Mining

Santosh's husband is bedridden with silicosis, a progressive respiratory disease caused by inhaling fine silica dust — a risk common in Rajasthan's roughly 33,000 mines. Across the state, an estimated 2.5 million people work in mines extracting sandstone, marble and granite, often for less than $6 a day. Those who use jackhammers may earn more but face much higher exposure to toxic dust.

Local doctors say silicosis is widespread and frequently diagnosed late. Pulmonologist Lokesh Kumar Gupta estimates 5,000–6,000 cases in Ajmer district alone. In Santosh's village of about 400 households, 70 people have been diagnosed. Many families face crushing medical bills, low or no wages and limited state support.

Economic Strain and Makeshift Survival

Before falling ill, Santosh's husband cut sandstone for exported pavers. Now he can barely walk, requires costly medication and survives on a state allowance of roughly $16 a month. To make ends meet, Santosh says she has borrowed money, sold jewelry and even mortgaged her mangalsutra, the traditional wedding necklace.

Other graduates face similar hardship. Champa Devi, 30, who could not write her name before the course, has installed panels in nearby homes but is still waiting to be paid. For now she earns about 300 rupees (~$3.35) a day doing construction work — far from enough to cover her husband's estimated $80 monthly medication costs. Another miner, Vinod Ram, described how medication "only calms my cough for a few minutes"; he began mining at 15 and now struggles to breathe and weigh only about 45 kg (99 lb).

Small Gains, Real Impact

Barefoot College has trained more than 3,000 women from 96 countries since 1972, according to the institute's technical manager, Kamlesh Bisht. For women like Santosh and Champa, the training provides a modest but meaningful income (Santosh hopes to reach about $170 a month), increased confidence and technical independence. The solar systems they install immediately improve household lighting, phone charging access and the ability to run small appliances.

Under state schemes, diagnosed patients may receive a lump sum and families receive additional compensation in case of death; however, many people are diagnosed late and the payments rarely replace steady earnings. As Sohan Lal, a 55-year-old miner with breathlessness and a chronic cough, put it: "If I were diagnosed, what difference would it make?" Many continue to work despite severe health risks because they have no alternative.

Looking Ahead

The training offers a scalable model: equipping local women with renewable-energy skills that both alleviate immediate household needs and create new livelihood options. While solar engineering does not solve systemic public-health failures or remove miners from hazardous work, it gives affected families a degree of resilience and hope — a small but tangible shift from the darkness of illness and poverty toward greater self-reliance.