Lighting a New Path – Heera Devi’s Journey to Clean Energy

For years, Heera Devi from a small village in Lakhisarai, Bihar, cooked every meal over a smoky chulha. Her mornings began with hours of gathering firewood; her eyes stung, her throat burned, and black soot coated the kitchen walls. She knew the smoke wasn’t good for her children, but there was no other option. LPG was too expensive, and firewood was the only fuel they could afford.

That changed when AIDENT, in collaboration with Forward7 Initiative and Sistema.bio, introduced biodigesters to her village. Meera’s family was among the 413 households that received a biogas plant, a simple, circular solution that turns cow dung into clean cooking gas.

The first time she lit her new biogas stove, the flame burned steady and blue. Happily she remarks

“Cooking on the chulha used to take a long time and the smoke made my eyes and throat sore. Since we got the biogas plant, cooking is quicker and cleaner. No more smoke in the house & I have more time for my farm and family.”

With the time saved from collecting firewood, she now tends to her vegetable patch and helps her children study.

The change didn’t stop at the kitchen. The biofertilizer from the digester enriched her soil and doubled her crop yield. Expenses dropped, health improved, and Meera found new confidence in managing her home and farm.

Today, her biogas flame stands as a quiet symbol of the transformation of how clean energy can bring not just convenience, but dignity, time, and hope to rural lives.