Name: Yazmin Rios Class: Period 2

What's It Like to Live Without Electricity?

By Julie McCarthy
2015

The author
The following article is a production of National Public Radio (NPR), written by Julie McCarthy. Life without
wants the electricity may seem impossible to imagine, but for millions of people around the world it is a reality. This
reader to article provides a glimpse into the lives of people without electricity, specifically in rural India, and the
empathize struggle to implement clean energy in their homes. As you read, consider the causes of this energy crisis
and any possible solutions.
with those
who do not
have [1] Imagine living in a world with little or no light when
electricity. the sun sets. That’s the plight of an estimated 300
million Indians — a quarter of the population, mostly
the rural poor.

They’re not left completely in the dark. Kerosene

lamps provide light. Cow dung patties provide fuel for
cooking. But these options take a toll on time and
health. That’s why India’s prime minister is calling for
global partnerships to bring green energy to the
powerless millions.

"Local climates, global impacts" by DFID - UK Department for

It characterizes
The village of Sadikpur is a good place to gain an
the lifestyle of
International Development is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
understanding of life without electricity. It’s about a
five-hour drive from Delhi in India’s most populous state of Utter Pradesh, in the north of the country. those living
without electricity
1
The road leading to the village is lined with cow dung pies drying in the sun, a serene if jarring scene that lends as being of a
a 19th-century feel. “simpler time.”
These are striking or shocking
some [5] They’re made by women like Sagarwati, 30. She digs her hands deep in manure and slaps cow dung into
alternatives paddies to burn as fuel to cook for her three children.

that the
Watching mother and daughter-in-law Sheela and Sunita Devi provide the manual horse-power for their
people of
shredder, I discover that it’s a village operated by hand. Their scarves dangling dangerously close to the wheel
Sadikpur use 2
they push to move the blade that slices sugarcane into feed for animals, who are quartered steps from their
to survive door.
to house
without
electricity. Sitting cross-legged in a courtyard hand-weaving a basket, 70-year-old resident Baburam says “nothing is
mechanized” here.

1. Jarring (adjective) striking or shocking

2. to house

1
This serves a The residents of Sadikpur have never been connected to the national power grid. It’s the sort of place that
similar would benefit from the multibillion dollar green energy initiative President Barack Obama announced on his
purpose to recent India visit. India became officially independent of British rule in 1947; the British had forced

paragraph 4. India (and other countries) under its rule and into its empire as a colony in 1858.
3
Baburam, a grandfather, is angry that six decades after India’s independence, kerosene still illuminates the Growing concern
houses with a light so dim he says it discourages anyone from learning to read. and new
initiatives for
[10] And there are health costs from kerosene, which is the main source of lighting for 43 percent of rural India. green energy
Baburam says fumes from kerosene and wood burning indoors “burn our eyes” and “we cannot breathe.”
may give
Kerosene fires and explosions are well-documented. Less known are the hazards from kerosene combustion.
electricity to the
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “exposure to indoor air pollution” as a result of smoke disadvantaged.
from burning animal or vegetable matter is estimated to cause more than a half a million premature deaths a
year in India.

One study has found that India’s indoor pollution contributes to disabilities and early death to a greater degree
than tobacco, high blood pressure and heart attacks, says Rahul Tongia. He’s a fellow with Brookings India who
specializes in sustainable development and energy policy.

“It disproportionately impacts those who are indoors a lot, which is women and children,” Tongia adds. This talks about
how having no
The World Health Organization says India has 154 deaths per 10,000 people from chronic respiratory diseases
electricity causes
— the world’s highest rate.
problems for the
future or
[15] And in Sadikpur, their lack of electricity could jeopardize its future. Farmer Papu Singh, 28, says more than one
family has turned down his proposal for marriage. The brooding bachelor asks, “Who wants to marry a poor jeopardize it.
man” in a place with no power?
An official order
or proclamation It’s not as if Sadikpur hasn’t tried to get electricity. The village chief has a file spilling with petitions accumulated
issued by a over the years, asking for connection to the national power grid. The requests are caught up in a complex web
4
person in of government edicts, public power companies and private suppliers that is electricity in India. This talks about how
authority the number of
The problem turns out to be one of numbers. The village falls short of the 3,000 residents required to qualify residents to require
for electricity.
electricity are a
problem because the
At the local electric company, we ask the superintendent engineer Punkaj Kumar how it can be that decades
village is short.
after independence a sizeable village like Sadikpur is still without power.

“It’s a very big country,” Kumar replies. “In 67 years we have completed almost 95 percent of the country
[getting] electrified.”

[20] But there’s a difference between reaching a village and connecting to all its houses. The 2011 census says that
just 55 percent of rural homes use electricity as the primary source of lighting. By comparison, the World Bank
says 99.7 percent of Chinese homes have access to electricity.

3. India became officially independent of British rule in 1947; the British had forced India (and other countries) under
its rule and into its empire as a colony in 1858.
4. an official order or proclamation issued by a person in authority

2
 Despite the damage from the lack of electricity, new ideas for more sustainable
energy could fix this crisis from paragraph 21-34

The yawning energy shortfall in one of the world’s largest electricity markets is stirring opportunity. This talks about
how investors
A group of some 200 high-profile investors convened in New Delhi this week to strategize on renewable energy
strategize on
for India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi told them that India needs $100 billion in green energy and is
renewable energy
prepared to offer incentives. a large business formed together by different
for India but need
A large business companies or firms
5 $100 billion.
Companies in attendance ranged from the U.S.-based SunEdison to the Indian conglomerate Reliance. They
doubled India's pledged to double India’s energy capacity by adding 250,000 megawatts of sustainable green energy to the
energy capacity. national grid over the next five years. As in the U.S., coal is India’s main source of energy.

India’s Minister for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal told NPR that even if “some fraction” of the
commitments does not materialize, the pledges will help reduce India’s dependence on fossil fuels.

[25] “And for the people of India, it’s more power to the villages, it’s more power to the common man, it’s more
power to the last man on the street who’s been deprived of it for 67 years,” Goyal says.
In southern India
In the short term, small entrepreneurs are making a go of it. there is no
electricity at all
“This is the place where you don’t have any electricity at all,” says Ananth Aravamudan, who accompanied me to but the
6
distant or isolated the remote villages that lie in land in the southern Indian state of Karnataka that the government wants government
preserved as forest.
wants it to be
preserved as a
Aravamudan is with the Indian energy company Selco (Solar Electric Light Company) which has provided power
solutions to 100,000 underserved households since 1994. Field staff works with local banks to make loans to forest.
poor villagers to buy Selco’s $200 solar home lighting system on installments for as little as 100 rupees — $1.60
— a week. to end or destroy something completely

7 This tells me that

Its founder, social entrepreneur Harish Hande, says the mission is to “eradicate poverty and the darkness” with
nothing has been
renewable energy. He says the poor are not looking for sympathy; they are looking “for a partner.”
improved in the last

[30] In the village of Tulasikere, women fetch water from a well as they have for centuries. A 36-year-old farmer three generations in
named Dummada says “there’s been no development here for the last three generations” though politicians the village Tilasikere
have promised “roads, lighting and health centers.” but was told to have
roads, lighting, and
Feeling “let down by the government,” Dummada says he electrified his home on his own with solar power and health centers.
became the first in the village to acquire the small solar home lighting system.

to steal from a Three quarters of the villagers now have solar panels installed on their roofs, and there are many benefits.
8
place or property Dummada says the panels charge the “portable torches villagers use at night to protect their fields against
9
pillaging animals,” including elephants.
another word for a flashlight.

He says children can study at night with solar-charged lanterns. Selco pioneered a lantern program to distribute
solar lights to kids who first had to come to school in order to get the battery charged.

5. a large business formed together by different companies or firms

6. Remote (adjective) far away from the main population; distant or isolated
7. Eradicate (verb) to end or destroy something completely
8. In some English-speaking countries, a “torch” is another word for a flashlight.
9. “Pillage” means to steal from a place or property.

3
Harish Hande says, “There is a huge potential of entrepreneurs, mathematicians, innovators, inventors that is
just lurking behind darkness. So by putting that one light, we are taking the first step out of ten” toward a more
equitable India.

©2015 National Public Radio, Inc. News report titled “What's It Like to Live Without Electricity?” was originally broadcast on NPR’s Morning
Edition on February 17, 2015, and is used with the permission of NPR. Any unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

Unless otherwise noted, this content is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license

4
 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. Reread the first paragraph. Which of the following best describes why the article is
introduced in this way?
A. The author wants the reader to pity the people of India and think about how
they can support the country.
B. The author wants the reader to empathize with those who do not have
electricity.
C. The author wants the reader to confront the assumption that no one can live
without electricity.
D. The author wants the reader to recognize their own privilege as someone who
most likely lives with electricity.

2. PART A: Which of the following statements best describes a central idea of the text?
A. Millions of people around the world live without electric power because they
cannot afford to pay for electricity.
B. India’s government cannot give its rural population electricity because they live
too far away from a power source.
C. Growing concern and new initiatives for green energy may give electricity to the
disadvantaged.
D. Lack of electricity is the main cause of death and continued poverty in certain
regions of the world.

3. PART B: Which of the following paragraphs best supports the answer to Part A?
A. Paragraphs one and ten
B. Paragraphs three and thirty-two
C. Paragraphs eight and nineteen
D. Paragraphs ten and thirty-four

4. PART A: In paragraph 4, the author describes the path to the village as having “a 19th-
century feel.” How does this description contribute to the the central idea of the text?
A. It emphasizes that un-electrified regions have been left behind by international
advances in technology.
B. It highlights how living without electricity is the norm and the rural population
accepts this way of life.
C. It portrays the people in the rural villages as inferior because of their subpar
living conditions.
D. It characterizes the lifestyle of those living without electricity as being of a
“simpler time.”

5
5. PART B: Which paragraph from the article serves a similar purpose as the answer to Part A?
A. Paragraph 3
B. Paragraph 9
C. Paragraph 15
D. Paragraph 27

6. What are some alternatives that the people of Sadikpur use to survive without electricity?

Some alternatives that the people of Sadikpur use to survive without electricity are
making dry dung cow patties to burn as fuel to cook food, used Kerosene lamps,
provide manual horsepower the manual for their shredder horse-power, and use a
wheel they mush to move the blade that slices sugarcane into feed for animals.

7. What is the effect of kerosene and other poor lighting methods on the people in rural
Indian villages?

The effect of kerosene and other poor lighting methods on the people in rural Indian villages are
health costs from kerosene, which is the main source of lighting for 43 percent of rural India.
Baburam says fumes from kerosene and wood burning indoors “burn our eyes” and “we cannot
breathe.” Kerosene fires and explosions are well-documented. Less known are the hazards from
kerosene combustion.

8. Which of the following statements best summarizes the second half of the text (Paragraphs
21-34)?
A. Despite the damage from the lack of electricity, new ideas for more sustainable
energy could fix this crisis.
B. People living without electricity refuse to work with India’s government and are
reaching out to entrepreneurs instead.
C. While new initiatives are being developed, it is not soon enough for the rural
populations living without electricity in India.
D. People in rural Indian communities without power sources are optimistic about
receiving help from Indian entrepreneurs.

6
 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to
share your original ideas in a class discussion.

1. What, in your opinion, would be the most difficult thing about living without energy?

I think that the most difficult thing about living without energy is the starvation.

2. Consider your city/state/country’s current environmental policies. What is the current

attitude towards developing and implementing sustainable energy practices?

The current attitude towards developing and implementing sustainable energy practices are expanding
access to electricity, to improving clean cooking fuels, and reducing wasteful energy to deadly air
pollution that each year prematurely kills millions around the world.

3. Some people might argue that light pollution and rapid global industrialization are issues
just as important as living without electricity. What is your response?

I agree with the people who argue about light pollution and rapid global industrialization being an
issue because both disrupts ecosystems and have adverse health effects.

4. In the context of this article, what are the costs and benefits of technology? Cite evidence
from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.