The Budget 2018-19 presented by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley today clearly focused on the rural population and in general, the economically-challenged. In keeping with this, the capital expenditure on the national household electrification programme (Saubhagya) has been increased to Rs.3,700 crore for FY19 from Rs.2,000 crore in FY18 (Revised Estimate).
In FY19, Rs.2,750 crore, out of the Rs.3,700 crore, will be spent under the Deen Dayal Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDGJY) while Rs.950 crore has been allocated under the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS). This clearly shows that village household electrification will get 75 per cent of this outlay while urban households will have the remaining 25 per cent.
The Saubhagya scheme also found mention in Jaitley’s Budget speech, being highlighted as one of the major schemes launched by the NDA government. Saubhagya, announced on September 25, 2017, envisages household electrification of 4.04 crore households, with a total outlay of Rs.16,320 crore. The targeted completion date of this scheme is December 31, 2018.
Allocation for Saubhagya is 23 per cent higher in FY19 than in FY18, on an annualized basis.
A subtle point must be noted here. In FY18, Rs.2,000 crore is estimated to have been spent on Saubhagya. However, there were only six months available in FY18 for Saubhagya as the scheme was launched in September 2017. Further, as the completion date of Saubhagya is December 31, 2018, Saubhagya will technically have just nine months of existence in FY19. Annualizing the two time periods, the allocation in FY19 is around 23 per cent higher than in FY18.
Sticking to his rural thrust, Arun Jaitley also said that solar water pumps will be encouraged and support will be provided to farmers to set up their own solar power plants to energize these pumps. The Centre would also encourage state power distribution utilities to purchase the extra electricity generated by these solar power plants. This would make the solar power plant an even more remunerative asset for the farmer.
Outlay of power PSUs drops
The total outlay of Central PSUs under the power ministry has fallen by 16 per cent from Rs.64,701 crore in FY18 (RE) to Rs.54,270 crore in FY19 (BE). NTPC, for instance, is anticipating a 20 per cent drop in its capital outlay. Power Grid Corporation of India, on the other hand, is expected to maintain its capital expenditure at Rs.25,000 crore in FY19. For most power-ministry PSUs, the capital outlay is generated through internal and external budgetary resources (IEBR) with negligible Budgetary support.
Photograph, sourced from gaatha.com, is for illustration only.
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