The Narendra Modi government, which started its ‘power for all’ campaign in rural India with the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), is continuing its campaign, with the Prime Minister on Monday launching the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana — Saubhagya.

Saubhagya is meant to ensure electrification of all willing households in rural and urban areas.

Launching Saubhagya scheme, Modi said: “There are over 4 crore households in the country without electricity. That means almost 20 per cent of all 25 crore households are devoid of a basic necessity like power.”

The government is targeting the completion of household electrification by December 2018. Industry observers believe that this represents a natural transition of government policy from electrification of villages to connecting households. Access to energy is central to development and this initiative to expedite that access is strongly positive for growth.

Under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, the government had decided to electrify 18,452 unelectrified villages within 1,000 days, by May 1, 2018. Today, there are only 3,000 unelectrified villages left in the country, Modi said.

On Saubhagya scheme, Kameswara Rao, Leader - Energy, Utilities and Mining, PwC India, said, “The last-mile connectivity has always been a challenge, with households facing high connections costs, and States facing higher supply costs. This attempt addresses both, by funding energy-efficient equipment.”

The government also plans to provide solar power packs of 200-300 Watt peak capacity with battery bank for unelectrified households in remote and inaccessible areas and also provide five LED lights, a DC fan, a DC power plug as well as maintenance for five years.

Modi also dedicated ONGC’s ‘Deendayal Urja Bhawan’ office, a booster compressor facility in Bassien Gas Field and paperless office project ‘DISHA’.

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