Editorial

Solar energy has for long held the promise of freeing our fragile world from the clutches, and the tyranny, of fossil fuels. That promise is steadily being realised, and India has kept pace with more advanced countries with its efforts to tap the power of the sun. Our cover story explains how the Tata Trusts are helping the solar cause, principally through programmes that enable marginalised rural communities to make the switch to solar energy and, with that, to sustainable and higher-income livelihoods.

The Trusts and their associate organisations have spread the word on and cemented the benefits of solar energy in nine Indian states and one union territory, offering a host of solar-based solutions and prototypes for use in the country’s farming ecosystem. Irrigation tops the list in the swing to solar, and there’s more: animal husbandry, pest-control aids, cold-storage facilities, household amenities and projects that have spawned energy entrepreneurs. Importantly, with abundant sunny weather to count on, India has the mother source on its side.

Our Centre Stage section concentrates on water, delving into research conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment — with support from the Tata Trusts — in two districts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The research reveals the gaps that need to be plugged for rural India to get an adequate amount of potable water.

The second part of this section highlights the IWMI-Tata Water Policy Research Program (ITP), a collaboration between the Tata Trusts and the Colombo-based International Water Management Institute (IWMI) that has blended scientific expertise, global experience, field study and policy advocacy to drive improvements in rural livelihoods. We also have Tushaar Shah, the inspiration behind ITP, describing how this unfolded.

The feature stories segment of Horizons details the contribution of India Foundation for the Arts in linking artists and art practices to a wider public, covering a canvas that includes books, cinema, exhibitions, research and archives. A different kind of article scans an initiative that brings science and technology into sheep and goat breeding in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

Wrapping it up are two of Tata Trusts’ own. Keletsino Mejura from the Northeast Initiative Development Agency anchors a photo feature on four success stories from Nagaland that have emerged from an inventive livelihoods programme. And there’s Kavin Malini, who is part of the analytics, insights and impact division at the Trusts, unpicking a crisis of sustainability.

Christabelle Noronha

We hope you will help us make Horizons better with your valuable feedback. Please do write to us at horizons@tatatrusts.org.