The Solar Electric Light Company, India or SELCO India is a for-profit social enterprise based in Bangalore, India. The SELCO India has played an instrumental role in improving living standards of poor households in rural India especially in the state of Karnataka through solar energy based interventions and low smoke cook stoves. In recognition of the services towards reduction of the gap in access to energy, SELCO India has been awarded the prestigious Ashden Awards (also known as the Green Oscars) twice, in years 2005 and 2007. SELCO India was founded in 1995 by Dr.Harish Hande an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur with INR 15,000 funding from its co-founder Mr. Neville Williams. SELCO India has installed solar light systems in 125,000 houses and plans to aims to reach over 200,000 households by 2014.
Dr. Hande after graduating from IIT Kharagpur conceptualized SELCO India during his PhD on sustainable energy at the University of Massachusetts. During a field visit to the Dominican Republic, he was surprised to see the poor using solar lights. This prompted him to think if a similar model can be used for poor households in India too. After brief study on poverty and opportunities for solar intervention in Sri Lanka he returned to Massachusetts and met Mr. Neville Williams. Williams was the founder of SELF (Solar Electric Light Fund), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization facilitating rural electrification worldwide, and his interests were directly aligned with Hande’s work in his home state of Karnataka. In 1995, the two partnered to found SELCO as an energy services company focused on meeting the needs of people lacking adequate access to energy. Initially, SELF took a majority stake in the new company, with Williams as Chairman, while Hande retained a minority shareholding position and the role of Managing Director. When Hande established SELCO-India in Bangalore, he was looking to dispel three myths:
You really hurt me, you left me out in the rain
You left me nothing but a lot of memories and pain
I thought that you were happy
That we would be forever but I was wrong
I couldn't see the signs you gave
You never even let me know, no, no, no
How could you say you love me
If you really didn't mean it?
I gave you all the love I had to give
Baby, I trusted you with all my heart
You took my love, tore it apart
How could you say you love me
If you didn't mean it, if you didn't mean it?
No, no, didn't mean it
I never left your side, I was there through thick and thin
And baby when you would cry, your heart I would always mend
How could you throw love away? You left me flat right on my face
I'm so sad, my feelings all have run away
And I'm living in loneliness, so lonely, so lonely
How could you say you love me
If you really didn't mean it?
I gave you all the love I had to give
Baby, I trusted you with all my heart
You took my love, tore it apart
How could you say you love me
If you didn't mean it, if you didn't mean it?
How could you say you love me
If you really didn't mean it?
I gave you all the love I had to give
Baby, I trusted you with all my heart
You took my love, tore it apart
How could you say you love me
If you didn't mean it, if you didn't mean it?
Tore my love, tore my heart, baby
You hurt me so bad, now I'm standing here so sad
Oh, babe, oh, my, my baby
Don't know what to do
Don't know what to say
Don't know how to feel, hurt me so bad
If you didn't mean it