Maati Baani's New Music Video Highlights How Clean Energy Can Help Rural Communities

As we slowly approach World Environment Day, it is imperative to analyse our social and cultural structures that directly impact our ecological wellbeing. Many young minds are actively working towards a more sustainable future by taking a more conscious route in fashion and lifestyle consumption. As a collective, we can also see communities coming together to change the larger narrative around energy production and opt for cleaner mediums.

The Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW), a leading think-tank based in India has partnered with Villgro, one of the world's largest social enterprise incubators, for the Powering Livelihoods initiative. The joint initiative aims to boost India's rural economy by scaling up clean energy-powered livelihood technologies, particularly for women. By doing so they want to celebrate World Environment Day and showcase the transformative power of clean energy in rural India.

The initiative is focused on providing clean energy solutions to rural communities, particularly in the agriculture and textiles sectors. CEEW conducted a research which found that clean technology can impact 37 million livelihoods in India's agriculture and textile sectors. More importantly 70% of women and farmers using clean technology reported an income increase. 

Clean technologies have the potential to not only improve livelihoods but also create new market opportunities for rural communities. To showcase this, CEEW recently released an anthem song/music video in collaboration with Maati Baani, which explores the impact of clean energy on rural communities. The song highlights the joint efforts and resilience showcased by Indians who have to bear the brunt of climate calamities. 

The musical group Maati Baani consists of Hindustani vocalist Nirali Kartik and award-winning Composer/Music producer Kartik Shah. They tend to combine elements of Hindustani Classical with various styles of Folk music and New-Age sounds. The song ‘Suraj Ka Gola’ also features singer Ashish Kulkarni who rose to fame from Indian Idol and has since produced multiple independent songs. 

The optimistic track takes cues from grassroots initiatives and utilises native storytelling techniques to connect with the masses. They hope to further inspiring others to invest in solar-powered energy. You can listen to the anthem below.

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