On the third day of Jimmy McGilligan Memorial Sustainable Week, a  symposium  on " Solar Therma Cooking   Technologies For  Sustainable Development of Rural India " was held

“Solar thermal cooking technologies need to be scaled up on priority for rural India” Janak Palta McGilligan and Ghanshyam Lukhi

On the third day of Jimmy McGilligan Memorial Sustainable Week, a  symposium  on " Solar Therma Cooking   Technologies For  Sustainable Development of Rural India " was held at Manav Chetna Vikas Kendra in Pivday village today. Shri Ajay Dayama, founder of Manav Chetna Vikas Kendra welcomed everyone. Dr. Abhay Wankhede introduced the OBjectives of their  Centre  are to  impart knowledge about Self  and conserve nature.

Keynote speaker, Environmentalist Dr Mrs   Janak Palta McGilligan, based on her 39 years of experience in  rural and tribal women empowerment by training  them. India's social, economic and climate crisis increases every day due to indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources, Making people aware about solar thermal cooking systems, especially for villages, is the most important need and priority of the hour. We have only one life, God has given conscience and soul  live for making this world a better place  for all beings. It is also clear that to live in harmony with everyone, the only option is  to  use  the  natural resources mindfully.  For the wellbeing  of the  entire world, 

We  have to get out of  the culture of consumerism and live with restraint /minimalistic ,for needs not for greed. . Having been committed to  Baha'i principles , my husband Jimmy McGilligan and myslef  made sincere and conscious efforts to train the tribal and rural girls in solar cooking, maintenance and cleaning of solar cooker at Barli Institute.  They took keen interest and worked hard  to learn and use Solar cookers in their homes .Till today 1000 solar cookers were made available to them with 10 percent of their own contribution and 90 percent of the contribution from philanthropists.This motivated  , self-help groups also got trained and started earning their livelihood by making tea, snacks and sweets from solar cookers. His life has changed with the use of solar cooker. When pulses, vegetables and rice are kept, they get cooked automatically. The work of blowing in the stove has also ended and now due to smokeless kitchen and no expenses, many small but important happiness have come in his life, his financial condition and morale have increased. The biggest advantage which he told is that Many times it took a day or two to collect wood from a distance, there is no risk of rape and sexual exploitation, dignity is saved, we are safe with solar cookers! Many pregnant women were saved from miscarriage by walking with heavy wood. Avoid smoke, trees will not be cut! The solar tea lady in the village earns Rs 1400 in three hours. Over the last about 4 decades , millions of youth have learned about solar cookers and solar cooking lessons for free at the Jimmy McGilligan Centre for Sustainable Development. Our experience proved that it is an important solution to the current social, economic and climate challenges. India will have to scale-up solar thermal technologies on priority to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Along with solar power, India will now have to give priority to solar  thermal cooking and bring it to the forefront in the world.
 Guest Speaker   Shri Ghanshyam Lukhi, who came from Surat, built India's first solar food processor  Public company  Tapi Food  which was intended to promote economic empowerment of a large number of villagers. The expansion of his small company has started with the main objective of employing 1000 people by 2030 and processing 1 million metric tons of fruits and vegetables. It is the first fruit processing industry in India to commercially utilize solar energy since 2007. Ghanshyam Lukhi told that thoughts should be converted into action and by sticking to one's principles, one can always enjoy success with satisfaction. He also explained how his company grew from a small home industry to a publicly listed company in the stock market today. It has become. Today they  are exporting to 20 countries of the world. At the end of the program, Biotechnologist Abha Palta Tiwari, trustee of Jimmy and Janak McGilligan Foundation for Sustainable Development, who came from Bangalore, expressed her gratitude to  Manav Chetna Vikas Kendra for organizing this event and Mr. Ghanshyam Lukhi and Janak Palta McGilligan