Electrification Of Village Households

Electrification Of Village Households

- Isha Chakraborty

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on April, 28, 2018, “We fulfilled a commitment due to which the lives of several Indians will be transformed forever. I am delighted that every single village of India now has access to electricity.” This tweet came 12 days before the given deadline for completion of electrification of all Indian villages. When we discuss India’s rural electrification, there is a significant rise in connectivity infrastructure and in execution of new connectivity in the last decade. Between 2005 and 2014, around 1,082,280 villages were connected to grids and about 19 million rural houses were given access to electricity. In 2014, the total count of villages that required electricity was approximately 18,452. The NDA government has also launched the ‘Deendayal Upadhyaya grameen Jyoti Yojana’ that aims to intensify the process rural electrification.

Interestingly, the earlier UPA government was estimated to connect around 12,030 villages every year whereas only 4,842 villages were connected with the grid per year in case of the present NDA government. Such statistics question the statement given by the Prime Minister.

What is 100% electrification?

When it is said that a village is receiving 100% electricity or is electrified completely there can be two aspects that should be considered. Firstly, is the village entirely electrified? Secondly, it must be verified whether all households, streetlights and other public places electrified?

The first which is the electrification of villages can be considered complete soon after the villages are equipped with transmission wires and are connected to grids. This ensures that electricity can seamlessly flow into the villages. But that development can never be taken to guarantee that all village households and public places are receiving electricity.