Saubhagya scheme
The Saubhagya Scheme or Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana is an Indian government project to provide electricity to the 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.
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[7][2] and made no provision for cases where households could not afford electricity bills.[7] In October 2018, Bihar completed its target of 100 per cent electrification of willing households under Saubhagya scheme.[8]
References
- "PM launches 'Saubhagya' scheme to provide power to all". The Hindu Business Online. 25 September 2017.
- 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. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- "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.
- "Shedding light on Saubhagya: on electrification scheme". 25 October 2017.
- "Bihar completes 100% electrification two months before deadline".