India's Quietly Powerful Climate Warrior
- Aniket Bhor
- 10 hours ago
- 4 min read
There is a solar-powered bus driving all over India – over highways and narrow muddy streets, into small towns and big cities alike. It has “Energy Swaraj” written in large letters; swaraj is a poetic translation of “independence”. Inside the bus lives an ex-professor and scientist, now on a mission to fight climate change.
He wears a traditional Indian shirt and a genuine smile, and has an unmistakable amiability and a calm demeanor. His name is Professor Chetan Singh Solanki. He is one of the most unusual climate warriors of our times, and this is a glimpse into his story.
A Small Town Boy Becomes the “Solar Man of India”
Born in a small village in central India, Chetan Singh Solanki went on to become a professor and scientist of solar energy at IIT Bombay – one of India’s most prestigious universities. He became a renowned figure in the solar power sector, with numerous publications, research papers, and awards.
By most parameters, Prof. Solanki was living a “perfect life,” with an enviable job, salary, and acclaim. But it wasn’t long before he realized that he needed to do something bigger to have a far-reaching impact on the climate movement. This realization led him to undertake the “Energy Swaraj Yatra” (yatra = tour), an 11-year journey to raise awareness of climate change. His work in the coming years – thousands of talks, training sessions, and other programs – would earn him the titles of “Solar Man of India” and “Solar Gandhi,” owing to his promotion of solar energy and his affinity for Gandhian principles of truth and nonviolence.
The Energy Swaraj Foundation
Prof. Solanki founded the Energy Swaraj Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes solar power at the grassroots level and helps mitigate climate change. In his own words, Energy Swaraj means “energy by locals for locals,” a major philosophical pillar of Mahatma Gandhi’s beliefs.
When asked about the impact of Energy Swaraj, he says with a gentle smile, “I have travelled over 40,000 miles in the past five years, connected with 450,000 people, conducted talks, training programs, etc.,” then, without a pause, he adds, “and I want to bring one billion people into the Finite Earth Movement (FEM) by 2028.”
The Finite Earth Movement
The FEM was started earlier this year and spans the entire globe. As the name implies, it emphasizes the finite nature of our planet's resources and urges prioritizing reduced consumption over haphazard adoption of renewable energy and ambitious policies.
As Prof. Solanki himself puts it, “Technologies, policies, recycling – all these are like Tylenol. They are superficial solutions. The first step of sustainability is limiting our consumption.”
The movement began in mid-2025, and nearly 150,000 people have already joined. There are over 30 “climate action hubs” within the movement, and the foundation claims to have helped offset nearly 500,000 lb of CO₂ to date.
The Energy Swaraj Yatra
The Energy Swaraj Yatra is the engine of Prof. Solanki’s movement. It enables him to travel across India and connect with hundreds of thousands of people. As he puts it, “Real climate action can only take place when we speak with each other heart to heart,” and his yatra allows him to do that.
But that’s not all, the 11-year-long tour is also a symbol of sacrifice. Prof. Solanki has vowed to live on the road through this entire journey and not go home until it is over. It also reflects his conviction in Gandhian methods of mobilization, as Mahatma Gandhi once led a similar yatra, walking 240 miles and mobilizing millions.
When asked more about how Mahatma Gandhi has inspired his work, he says it all goes back to being in harmony with nature. “Whether it’s Gandhi, Tolstoy, or E. F. Schumacher, they are all asking us to be in harmony with nature, which we are currently not. Look at the things in nature. A tree, for example, is self-limiting; you will not see a forest where a random tree grows infinitely tall. But in our society, this happens – we are growing without a pause, we are consuming as if the Earth has infinite resources,” and then, in a moment of justifiable passion, he reiterates Einstein, saying, “modern humans are some of the stupidest people this world has ever seen.”
Another important goal of the Energy Swaraj Yatra is to reach the smallest parts of the country. Prof. Solanki visits countless tiny villages, conducts trainings, teaching rural communities how to install small solar panel systems, make solar lanterns, etc. In one instance, villagers built one million solar lanterns in less than a year.
Speaking about his passion for working with small communities, he says he believes in two fundamental laws of existence:
“One: In an ecosystem of finite resources, the consumption of resources shall be finite. Two: In such an ecosystem, the consumption and generation should be distributed.” Once more in the conversation, Prof. Solanki brings up Mahatma Gandhi, quoting “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."
Message to The World
Prof. Solanki’s message is clear in both his work and his words, but we were curious: if the whole world could hear him for a moment and he could say just one thing, what would it be?
“It’s simple,” he said, smiling again, “Climate is not changing, it has changed; I am responsible for it, and I have to do something about it.”
Perfect, isn’t it?
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