#BJP govt electrified 13,523 villages; only 8% completely
As many as 73 per cent of the 18,452 villages that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government identified for electrification in 2015 now have power supply, but only eight per cent of these had all their households electrified, according to the governments own data.
As of May 25, 13,523 villages have been electrified, but 100 per cent household connectivity has been achieved in only 1,089 villages, according to data in the Power Ministry’s Grameen Vidyutikaran (GARV) dashboard.
Besides, 25 per cent (45 million) of rural households across the country still have no electricity. In Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland, Jharkhand and Bihar, fewer than 50 per cent of rural households have electricity, three years after the BJP was sworn in at the Centre having promised “electricity for all”.
Among the 43.5 million below-poverty-line households identified to be provided with free electricity connections under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, 23.5 million (59 per cent) have been covered, and many geographically remote locations have been connected with off-grid sources of power. However, this kind of basic energy access does not provide larger benefits to recipients, and is not a substitute for grid connections, studies show.
A village is considered electrified if electricity is provided in public places such as schools, panchayat offices, health centres, dispensaries and community centres, and at least 10 per cent of households, according to the criteria used by the Power Ministry since October 1997. So, a village can be considered electrified even if 90 per cent of its households do not have electricity.
