Indore: Janak Palta recognised for exemplary work in promoting solar cooking

First Indian woman to receive prestigious Solar Cookers Internationals Order of Excellence 

Indore : Director of Jimmy McGilligan Centre for Sustainable Development, Janak Palta McGilligan received Solar Cookers Internationals Order of Excellence recently and with this, she became the first Indian woman to receive this prestigious award.

Established by Solar Cookers International in 1995, the award recognises individuals whose sustained efforts have contributed most in empowering people to cook food and pasteurize water with solar energy.

She is a pioneer who started training of solar cooking for grass root women. Along with her husband Lt James McGilligan OBE, she empowered tribal girls to use solar cookers and relieved them not only from inhaling toxic smoke from biomass based cooking, but also provided a source of livelihood.

Giving more information about the use of this technology, Palta said, “India has a long way to go and still far behind in use of solar cooking, but Indore has great potential.” Solar cooking technology is one of the best ways to achieve sustainable development goals, she added.

Janak has been active presenter and leader in the area of solar cooking advocating and promoting by manufacturing, testing and disseminating a variety of technologies to take forward the movement from India to all across the globe. She has also been one of the presenters in Solar Cookers International conferences in Spain, Sacramento, Portugal and Vadodra. Based in her village she has sensitised and educated more than 50 thousand students from many schools, colleges, universities microcredit groups and farmers.