Saubhagya scheme
The Saubhagya Scheme or Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana is an Indian government project to provide electricity to all 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 500 Rs.[4][5] On 16 November, 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 five LED lights, one AC fan, one AC power plug. It also includes the Repair and Maintenance (R&M) for 5 years.
Responses
91% of rural Indian households have received electricity access till August 2018. 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[7][2] and made no provision for cases where households could not afford electricity bills.[7]
References
- ^ "PM launches 'Saubhagya' scheme to provide power to all". The Hindu Business Online. 25 September 2017.
- ^ a b Rahul Tongia (31 October 2017). "Can the Saubhagya scheme work?". Brookings.
- ^ "Government launches Saubhagya scheme for household electrification". The Economic Times. 25 September 2017.
- ^ E Prachee Mishra (5 October 2017). "Electrification in India: 'Saubhagya' scheme". The PRS Blog.
- ^ "PM Modi's 16,000-Crore Power Point: Free Electricity Connections For Poor". NDTV. 26 September 2017.
- ^ "Govt launches Saubhagya scheme web portal to register citizens for free electricity". India Today. 25 November 2017.
- ^ a b "Shedding light on Saubhagya: on electrification scheme". 25 October 2017.