75-Year-Old Padma Shri Laureate Powers Her Home and 50 Neighbours with Wind and Sun

Janak Palta McGilligan, a Padma Shri awardee, reshaped her home in Sanawadia village near Indore into a completely self-sufficient, zero-waste property after her husband died in 2011. A wind turbine on the site not only powers her household but also provides electricity to nearly 50 surrounding homes, while solar cookers handle all cooking needs, with newspaper bricks used as backup fuel. Her garden, featuring about 160 trees and 13 crops, supplies organic food, and she produces soaps, shampoos, detergents and jams from locally sourced ingredients, eliminating waste and external shopping.

As founder and director of the Jimmy McGilligan Centre for Sustainable Development, she has educated over 150,000 youths and thousands of tribal women in solar cooking and eco-friendly living, with some reports citing 1.8 lakh trainees overall. Local officials have praised her residence as a replicable model for sustainable development, and she continues to host visitors and students eager to learn from her practices.