August 9, 2025

Picture this: women in Rajasthan’s Udaipur district gathering in villages, eagerly learning about shiny new eco-friendly cookstoves that promise to change their lives! The Udaipur Urja Initiatives (UUI), a women-led farmer producer company, is stirring up a green revolution by giving modern, clean cookstoves to tribal homes. These aren’t just any stoves — they are super-efficient, saving thousands of tonnes of firewood that once vanished in smoky old fires. These high-tech single burner cookstoves, perfect for rural women’s needs, work on all solid fuels like wood, dry dung, and agro-residue. They reduce dangerous smoke by cutting down carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and dust. The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Bureau of Indian Standards have given these stoves their official thumbs up! How smart are these stoves? Their thermal efficiency is over 30%, which halves cooking time and slashes firewood needs by almost two-thirds compared to old mud or stone stoves. Produced now at Greenway Grameen’s factory in Vadodara, these stoves have already reached 65,000 households through a powerful network of 400 women entrepreneurs. Saumyajit Auddy, CEO of UUI, shares, “We work across more than 300 remote villages in tribal pockets where Bhil, Meena, and Garasiya communities live. Earlier, women had to walk long, tough paths to collect firewood.” But now, firewood is precious and hard to get because of delays in the Forest Rights Act and soaring prices that have gone up 4-5 times in just five years. Nathi Bai from Dholi Ghati village smiles, “I save two hours cooking daily. I don’t need to buy firewood anymore. Twigs near my home do the job, saving me ₹1,000 a month!” Another star, Gavri Bai, monitors the project in Bagdunda village and says she has supplied 240 cookstoves, with only 30 needing small fixes. “I visit homes every day and people know me by name. The Urja project has given me an identity of my own,” she beams. Radha Devi of Godawara village adds, “My eyes no longer burn, and I don’t cough while cooking. Even my walls aren’t black with soot anymore, so I don’t need to paint them again!” This vibrant project combines climate care, women’s empowerment, and clean living, lighting a brighter, healthier path for Rajasthan’s rural homes!

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Tags: Eco-friendly cookstoves, Rajasthan, Rural women, Forest rights, Udaipur urja initiatives, Clean cooking technology,