According to information tabled in Parliament, there are just around 3.2 lakh households nationwide that have yet to be electrified. Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly 80 per cent of these.
It was informed in Parliament that when the nationwide household electrification scheme “Saubhagya” was launched in October 2017, some households were unwilling to electrification. These households have since conveyed their willingness to electrification and the process of their electrification is underway.
An estimated 19.09 lakh households were earlier unwilling and have since turned willing. These households were spread in seven states — Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
During FY20 (April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020), 13.92 lakh of these households were electrified. During FY21 so far (April 1, 2020 up to August 31, 2020), another 1.73 lakh households were electrified, taking the cumulative achievement to 15.65 lakh.
The number of households pending electrification thus stood at 3.20 lakh, as of August 31, 2020. Uttar Pradesh accounted for 2.54 lakh (or nearly 80 per cent) of such households, followed by Jharkhand with 0.61 lakh. Assam and Chhattisgarh accounted for the remaining, albeit with a very small contribution.
It is interesting to note that Karnataka, Manipur and Rajasthan have completed the electrification of all households, which were earlier unwilling, and hence stand fully electrified, at the household level.
Background
It may be recalled that all inhabited census villages across the country stood electrified on April 28, 2018. This achievement was the result of Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) launched in October 2017 with the objective of providing universal access to power by providing electricity connections to all willing un-electrified households in rural areas and to all poor households in urban areas across the country, by March 31, 2019.
All states have declared electrification of all households, except 18,734 households in Left Wing Extremist (LWE) affected areas of Chhattisgarh, as on March 31, 2019. Since the launch of Saubhagya scheme, 2.63 crore households were electrified across the country up to March 31, 2019.
Subsequently, seven states (discussed above) reported 19.09 lakh unelectrified households, which were identified before March 31, 2019 but were un-willing earlier to take connection, but later expressed their willingness to get electricity connection.
