Chhattisgarh Launches India's 1st Women-Led Solar Policy

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Saturday, 25 July 2026

The Chhattisgarh government has launched DWEEPTI Yojana (Decentralised Women Empowerment on Energy and Policy for Transformative Inclusion) that views women SHGs as the driving force behind the uptake of rooftop solar systems in rural areas. This policy has empowered women as entrepreneurs, vendors, technicians, and clean energy service providers. The yojana is a collective effort of department of panchayat and rural development of Chhattisgarh and Transform Rural India under the Green Economy Transition Mission.

The scheme is aimed at creating 5,000 enterprises in the sector of women-led renewable energy in five years, along with 50,000 jobs, while extending energy to 5 lakh families and 10,000 public institutions across the state.

Key Highlights:

• Chhattisgarh launches India's first women-led distributed renewable energy policy
• DWEEPTI Yojana targets 5,000 women-led solar enterprises and 50,000 green jobs
• 'Solar Didis' drive rooftop solar adoption and rural women entrepreneurship

The Panchayat and Rural Development Department, along with CSPDCL and district governments, has enrolled 13 Cluster Level Federations from 12 districts as authorized vendors in the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana. The scheme helps women acquire technical skills for the installation of roof top solar power systems, their maintenance, operation, and interactions with communities through a cluster of skilled “Solar Didis” for decentralized renewable energy systems deployment.

In order to ensure easier access to rooftop solar power plants, there is provision of flexible financing options to households of self-help groups. While enabling energy transition through this innovative model, this concept will not only ensure financial sustainability of women-run enterprises but will also create rural employment and work towards the realization of the Lakhpati Didi dream of PM Narendra Modi.

The government of Chhattisgarh is promoting a dual strategy of inclusion of women into the economy along with renewable energy through its DWEEPTI Yojana. The chief minister of Chhattisgarh, Vishnu Deo Sai, has been consistently emphasizing the need to empower women through self-help groups, while on the other hand, the panchayat and rural development minister of Chhattisgarh, Vijay Sharma, has been insisting on adopting a community-based model for sustainable development.

As part of the DWEEPTI Yojana implementation team, Kabirdham is among the first districts to put into operation the state-level programme of women-led renewable energy program. With the technical help of Tata, 35 women from Bihan self-help group were trained to install rooftop solar, thus becoming the first "Solar Didis" of the district.

Chhattisgarh Panchayat and Rural Development Secretary Bhim Singh said “Women’s role in the renewable energy space has so far remained limited, seen merely as recipients rather than active stakeholders. The DWEEPTI Yojana marks a shift, positioning women at the heart of the Distributed Renewable Energy sector and enabling them to take on roles as vendors, technicians, managers and entrepreneurs. This initiative reinforces the Prime Minister’s Lakhpati Didi vision, bringing rural women into the mainstream economy through self-reliance in the clean energy sector.”

As per the collector of Kabirdham, Gopal Verma, the project shows the capability of integrating the adoption of renewable energy sources with the creation of livelihood opportunities for a sustainable socioeconomic change. Abhishek Agrawal, Zila Panchayat Kabirdham CEO said the initiative has been made to help identify the Lakhpati Didis in establishing their own sustainable businesses along with increasing the availability of rooftop solar energy systems in the rural sector.