Indore: International Solar Energy Society (ISES) based in Germany has mentioned Padma Shri Janak Palta McGilligan in the list of The Century of Solar Stories and Visions of Renewable Energy.
Society has released the commemorative booklet during Solar World Congress, commemorating the 50th anniversary of their first ISES conference in Melbourne, Australia, in 1970, where all the solar research pioneers had met.
Janak is the only woman renewable energy pioneer in the field of solar cooking among compilation of 200 renewable energy pioneers listed in the booklet that has acknowledged the contribution of individuals who actively started working in or with the industry in 1995.
It is about researchers, industry players, policy makers, and NGO leaders who have contributed to making solar energy the fastest growing contributor to new electricity capacity. During the conference, recognition was given to solar cooking as an important part of renewable energy history.
Janak came to Indore in 1985 to start Barli Development Institute for Rural Women where she and her husband late James McGilligan (UK Baha’i Pioneer) started innovative works. They started first solar community kitchen and introduced solar cooking in over 500 villages.
