LEADer Shankar from S B Science College, Kalburgi noticed that many poor people in Kalburgi City were facing power cuts or were unable to afford much electricity, so at night, were without light or relying on fire sources.

Addressing two problems at once, Shankar designed a low-cost lamp made of waste materials in order to also re-use products that would otherwise be put in landfill or burned.

With only waste materials and 1500 Rs of funding from LEAD, Shankar has produced over 400 study lamps to distribute both to poor students, so they can study and work on school at night, but also in slum areas to use while cooking and spending time in the home.

Shankar's biggest challenges was to get his lamps to the people who needed it most, because he wanted to maximize his impact. He also struggled to find the proper waste materials, but as an important element of his project, he didn't give up and searched for these products to make hundreds of lamps.

Through this project he has realized just how important having light can be in improving the quality of life for a home.