Mangalore: Harish Hande brought solar electric power in several parts of Karnataka to deserve Ramon Magsaysay award this year. Hande(44) was perplexed by the fact that there was no electric light in 50% of Indian homes, so he ventured alone into this business of lighting up poor family homes. He revolutioned the area of lighting I Karnataka, by creating solar lights.
Harish belongs to Kota-Irodi in the present Udupi district. His father Subrahmanya was an Electrical engineer in Rourkela(Orissa). His mother is from Mangalore.
He did fuel engineering in H.T. at Kharagpur. He did his M.S. in solar energy engineering in Massachusetts in USA., and earned a Ph.D. in the same subject. He was influenced by alternate sources of energy created by the works of Newall Williams. Social worker and another Magsaysay awardee Arvind Kejriwal, now working for Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement, was Dr.Hande’s hostel-mate in USA.
Dr. Hande began work on solar lighting in Karnataka over 15 years ago, says Indian Vikas Trustee, K.M. Udupa who knew the Hande family well. Syndicate Bank and Udupa extended economic support to his movement on solar lights. Over 1.35 lakh homes use solar power, instead of kerosene oil for their home lamps.
Dr.Hande’s ‘Selco’ is a lamp to china, Vitenam, Sri Lanka and India’s people who did not have tubelights or hydraulic power. The Dharmsthala rural development movement also uses Selco lighting. Dr. Hande now advises international communities as a young leader on solar lights.
The Magsaysay award will be presented to Dr.Harish Hande on August 31at Manila, Philippines.