Unelectrified Households in Electrified Villages

What is the issue?

Prime Minister recently announced that all inhabited villages in India now enjoy electrification.
But a household level look highlights several disparities and thus needs deeper attention.

What is the claim?

As of April 1, 2015, the official count of unelectrified villages was around 18,000.
But recently, PM announced that all inhabited villages now enjoy electrification.
It signalled a significant milestone in the country’s development.
It is an achievement that will raise aspirations in the remotest districts.

What is the concern?

The existing definition to declare a village electrified is coverage of a mere 10% of households.
This is, along with the common facilities such as schools, panchayats and health centres.
However, these broad-based statistics fail to bring out several disparities.
These include:

What is the actual electrification scenario?

Millions of homes still lack this vital resource in India.
Rural household electrification has a wide range across States, from 47% to 100%.
The average hours of power supplied in a day to rural areas also varies widely among states.
It ranges from 11.5 in Mizoram, 17.72 in Uttar Pradesh and 24 hours in Kerala, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
Thus the claim of electrification loses validity with these small scale statistics.
Even with supportive Central schemes, the Power for All 24x7 goal with a deadline of April 1, 2019 is far from realistic.

What are the challenges?

These anomalies are often the result of infrastructure deficits and administrative inefficiency.
There is a clear divergence between the per capita electricity consumption between rural and urban India.
Thus, improving access and equity would be the twin challenges to be faced.
The falling cost of renewable, decentralised sources such as solar photovoltaics represents a ready solution for rural India.
However, evidence from States such as Maharashtra highlights the challenges in this.
It made an early claim to full electrification 6 years ago relying partly on solar power.
But it witnesses theft, damage and lack of technical capacity and the hurdles therein.

What could be done?

A hybrid solution i.e. scaling up of both grid-connected and standalone solar systems in appropriate areas would be a way out.
Augmenting conventional sources of electricity, with a clear emphasis on rooftop solutions for cities could be taken up.
Cheaper renewables will enable differential pricing for households in remote areas.
This would be a key determinant of wider social benefits of electricity.
In all, rural electrification in India and affordable power to every household needs sustained policy support.

Source: The Hindu