First fully solar village of Modhera lights up the lives of poor residents

Kesa Bhai Prajapati beams with a smile as he moulds blocks of clay into jugs and vases on a potter’s wheel.

These days, Prajapati, 68, from the village of Modhera in western India’s Gujarat state, has doubled the amount of earthenware he makes compared to a few months ago since he no longer has to turn the wheel manually as he could not then afford high electricity bill that were up to 1,500 Indian rupees ($18.19) a month.

Now, however, his machine moves on solar power as earlier this month Prajapati’s village of around 6,500 residents, consisting mainly of potters, tailors, farmers and shoemakers, was declared India’s first village to run entirely on solar energy all the time.