04/10/2021 - Government Policies | Mainstorming

IAS Parliament 3 years

KEY POINTS

· Saubhagya is one of the largest household electrification drives in the world.

· According to reports, the International Energy Agency (IEA) had lauded it as one of the greatest successes in the history of electrification, raising the bar on implementation of government programmes and almost managing to meet the target of providing power to all the unconnected.

· The focus of the scheme was on strengthening and augmentation the existing infrastructure and metering of existing feeders/distribution transformers to improve the quality and reliability of power supply in rural areas.

· Even though audits do happen, they are mostly transactional about physical presence and assets which doesn’t indicate the overall socio-economic impact.

· An extensive impact assessment with stakeholder engagement is imperative to enhance policy mileage and outcome, rather than just technical and commercial audits.

· A major challenge is lack of knowledge dissemination, as the beneficiaries rarely understand the incentives made available to them.

Push for audits

· The Power Ministry has been doing its bit to conduct audits and ensure seamless functioning. It has also proposed forming of District Committees.

· For success of schemes like Saubhagya what is needed is fixing accountability. While all agree that there has to be audit, most feel that it should also focus on the socio-economic impact.