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Saubhagya Scheme or Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana was an Indian government project to provide electricity to some households.[1][2] The project was announced in September 2017 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said that the aim was to complete the electrification process by December 2018.[3] Certain households identified via the Socio-economic and Caste Census (SECC) of 2011 will be eligible for free electricity connections, while others will be charged Rs. 500.[4][5] On 16 November 2017, the government launched a website saubhagya.gov.in to disseminate information about the scheme.[6] The total outlay of the project is Rs. 16, 320 crore while the Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) is Rs. 12,320 crore. The beneficiary household will get One LED lights, one DC power plug. It also includes the Repair and Maintenance of Meter Only (R&M) for 5 years. The scheme was closed in March 2022 since the target of 100% electrification was met.[7]

Responses

91% of rural Indian households have received electricity access by June 2019. Commentators have noted that while the scheme would provide the capacity for electricity in poor and rural households, it did not solve the problem of power outages[8][2] and made no provision for cases where households could not afford electricity bills.[8] In October 2018, Bihar completed its target of 100 per cent electrification of willing households under Saubhagya scheme.[9] As it completed 4 years of implementation, 2.82 crore households have been given electricity access as on March, 2021.

In 2022, the Jammu and Kashmir administration was awarded by the Government of India for providing electricity ahead of the deadline to all the villages under the Saubhagya scheme. But for Kamach, a remote hamlet in Chatroo tehsil of Kishtwar district electricity continues to remain a distant dream.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ "PM launches 'Saubhagya' scheme to provide power to all". The Hindu Business Online. 25 September 2017.
  2. ^ a b Rahul Tongia (31 October 2017). "Can the Saubhagya scheme work?". Brookings.
  3. ^ "Government launches Saubhagya scheme for household electrification". The Economic Times. 25 September 2017.
  4. ^ E Prachee Mishra (5 October 2017). "Electrification in India: 'Saubhagya' scheme". The PRS Blog. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  5. ^ "PM Modi's 16,000-Crore Power Point: Free Electricity Connections For Poor". NDTV. 26 September 2017.
  6. ^ "Govt launches Saubhagya scheme web portal to register citizens for free electricity". India Today. 25 November 2017. Archived from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  7. ^ "Various schemes implemented by Government of India to achieve uninterrupted power supply to all households". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Shedding light on Saubhagya: on electrification scheme". 25 October 2017.
  9. ^ Sharma, Aman (25 October 2018). "Bihar completes 100% electrification two months before deadline". The Economic Times.
  10. ^ "J&K: Projects in Kishtwar Light Up Homes in Other States, But Not This Hamlet in the Region". The Wire. Retrieved 30 August 2023.

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Government Schemes in India
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