About
- Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (SAUBHAGYA Scheme) was launched in October 2017 to achieve universal household electrification by providing electricity connections to all un-electrified households in rural areas and all poor households in urban areas in the country.
- It is one of the world’s biggest universal electrification initiatives with collaborative and concerted efforts of the Centre and the States.
- Saubhagya Scheme is a concurrent program to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY).
- Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC) is the nodal agency for operationalizing the scheme nationwide.
Goal
To achieve Universal Household Electrification in the country by establishing last-mile connectivity and delivering power to all un-electrified rural families and poor urban households.
Salient Features
- The prospective beneficiary households for free connection would be identified using Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data.
- Households not found eligible as per SECC data, would also be provided electricity connections on payment of Rs 500 recoverable in 10 instalments through electricity bills.
- All DISCOMs including Private Sector DISCOMs, State Power Departments, and RE Cooperative Societies are eligible for financial assistance.
- Dedicated web portal for SAUBHAGYA has been developed to capture the information and progress of household electrification.
Progress
- Under the Saubhagya Scheme, as on 31.03.2019, all households were reported electrified by the States, except 18,734 households in Left Wing Extremist (LWE) affected areas of Chhattisgarh.Â
- Subsequently, seven States namely Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh reported that around 19.09 lakh un-electrified households, identified before 31.03.2019, which were unwilling earlier, have later on expressed willingness to get electricity connections.
- All the States and Union Territories (UTs) have signed MoUs with the Central Government to ensure 24Ă—7 power supply to all households, industrial & commercial consumers and adequate supply of power to agricultural consumers w.e.f. 1st April, 2019 onwards.
Other Similar initiativesÂ
DeenDayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY):
Ministry: Ministry of Power.
Focus: On strengthening & augmentation the existing infrastructure and metering of existing feeders/distribution transformers to improve the quality and reliability of power supply in rural areas.
Objectives:
- To provide electrification to all villages.
- Feeder separation to ensure sufficient power to farmers and regular supply to other consumers.
- Improvement of Sub-transmission and distribution network to improve the quality and reliability of the supply.
- Metering to reduce the losses.
Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS):
- Ministry of Power, Government of India notified IPDS on 3rd December’14 with the following components:
- Strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution networks in the urban areas.
- Metering of distribution transformers/feeders/consumers in the urban areas.
- Schemes for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and IT enablement of balanced urban towns are also included under IPDS. The scope of IT enablement has been extended to all 4041 towns as per Census 2011.
- All Discoms will be eligible for financial assistance under the scheme.
Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP):
It was launched with a focus on the establishment of baseline data, fixation of accountability, and reduction of AT&C losses up to 15% level through strengthening & up-gradation of the transmission and Distribution network and adoption of Information Technology during the XI Plan.
Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY):
- The Ministry of Power, GoI launched Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) which was approved by the Union Cabinet on 5th November 2015. The scheme envisages:
- Financial Turnaround
- Operational improvement
- Reduction of cost of generation of power
- Development of Renewable Energy
- Energy efficiency & conservation
