On April 28, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that every single village of India has access to electricity, calling it a “historic day in the development journey of India.”
Six years later, India is staring at the government’s ambitious bid to achieve 24x7 electricity access for all by 2024, a target revised after it was missed in 2022.
To be sure, rural electrification and 24x7 electricity access are two different targets of the Government of India. The rural electrification mission aims at providing electricity connections to households, while through the 24x7 electricity supply mission, the government wants to ensure zero to almost no power cuts across all electrified households in India.
At this juncture, Moneycontrol looks at India’s rural electrification journey so far and answers key questions about the challenges.
What has the government done to enhance rural electrification?
On September 25, 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, with one of its aims being to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy to all.
In December 2014, the government of India launched the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) with the objective of electrifying all un-electrified villages as per the Census of 2011, which is the latest report covering the demographic, social, and economic data of India.
Later, in October 2017, the government launched the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (SAUBHAGYA) aimed at achieving universal household electrification throughout the country. Under this scheme, electricity connections would be provided to all willing un-electrified households in rural and urban areas.
The electrification would be carried out by distribution companies (discoms) and state power departments with funds provided by the Central government.
A total of 28.6 million households were provided electricity up to March 31, 2022, as per data from the Ministry of Power, and both the SAUBHAGYA and DDUGJY schemes were declared closed on March 31, 2022. The number of villages electrified as of March 31, 2022, was 597,464, representing 100 percent of the total as per the defined norms of the Ministry of Power.
When is a village declared electrified?
Does an electrified village mean that all its households have electricity? Simply put: No.
As per the definition of the government of India for the mission, a village is declared electrified if at least 10 percent of its households have electricity. There are two additional criteria for a village to be declared electrified.
1. Basic infrastructure such as a distribution transformer and distribution lines are provided in the inhabited locality as well as the Dalit basti hamlet, where it exists.
2. Electricity is provided to public places such as schools, the panchayat office, health centres, dispensaries, and community centres.
But this definition was formulated only after February 2004. Prior to October 1997, a village was classified as electrified if power was used within its revenue area for any purpose. After October 1997 and before February 2004, a village was deemed to be electrified if power was used for any purpose in the inhabited locality within the revenue boundary of the village.
What are the hurdles?
Ensuring the financial health of discoms run by state governments and the modernisation of transmission and distribution in states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Assam, and Himachal Pradesh are the biggest challenges in ensuring 24x7 power supply.
Rural and even urban areas in these and some other states continue to face unscheduled power cuts even though they are termed “illegal” by the Union power minister.
Currently, the average power supply in India is for 23.5 hours per day in the urban areas and 20.5 hours in the rural areas. With electricity a concurrent subject, state power utilities are responsible for energy supply and distribution. Policies may be made at the Centre, but the states need to implement them.
Is decentralised renewable energy the solution?
India has committed to generating at least 50 percent of its electricity from non-fossil sources by 2030. Further, the country intends to achieve net zero emissions by 2070.
As a step toward this, the government is looking at decentralised solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to provide rural electrification. The government on January 4 unveiled a new solar scheme for particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG) under the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN) programme.
Launched on November 15, 2023, the PM-JANMAN initiative will focus on 11 critical interventions through nine ministries for implementation.
The mission covers electrification of 100,000 un-electrified households through off-grid solar systems in PVTG areas located in 18 states - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, and the Union Territory of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
In the tribal areas of these states, electricity supply through the grid is not feasible. Hence, the government has introduced this off-grid solar scheme.
The government also intends to cover a number of new households in the rural areas through the recently announced 'PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana’, which has an outlay of Rs 75,021 crore. The scheme provides Central Financial Assistance of 60 percent of the system cost for 2 kW systems and 40 percent of the additional cost for systems of 2 kW to 3 kW capacity.
The CFA is capped at Rs 78,000 for 3 kW systems. At the current benchmark price, consumers can get Rs 30,000 subsidy for a 1 kW rooftop solar (RTS) system, Rs 60,000 for 2 kW systems and Rs 78,000 for 3 kW systems or higher.
Through the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, the government also intends to build a model solar village in each district for the adoption of RTS in rural areas.
"Urban local bodies and panchayati raj institutions can also benefit from incentives for promoting RTS installations in their areas. The scheme has a component for the payment security of RESCO (renewable energy service company)-based models, as well as a fund for innovative RTS projects," the ministry said.
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