India's power companies have a problem largely responsible for billions a year in losses. Slum dwellers steal electricity and refuse to pay their bills. But company officials often can't go in without being chased by mobs - and sometimes beaten, tied up, urinated on, even murdered. So officials at Tata Power's joint venture with the Delhi state government came up with a solution that's turning out to be a model not just for the rest of India but for the world: it hired women living in the 223 slums it serves in the capital and called them "Abhas", from the Sanskrit word for light. Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited's force of 841 women go around the slums, knocking on neighbours' doors and persuading and nagging them to pay their power bills. The result is a 183% increase in revenue over five years from the slums where Tata operates the project, with minimal cost to the company. Active power connections have risen 40% to 196000. "This gave us a way to get into these neighbourhood...
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