Home Knowledge Path to Progress... Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojna & Saubhagya Yojna

Path to Progress... Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojna & Saubhagya Yojna

by Madhavi Mihir Bhuta (National Executive Member, BJP Mahila Morcha)
Jun 30, 2020
Path to Progress...  Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojna & Saubhagya Yojna, Knowledge, KonexioNetwork.com

A small village called Gajrajpur in Odisha, was covered in darkness since decades.

A small village called Surajwada, in Jhalore district in Rajesthan, was barely 7 kms away from the Taluka place. Till as late as 1989-90, Surajwada remained without electricity, in darkness. The Taluka headquarters, at the distance of a stone’s  throw,had power substation but Surajwada remained in darkness, due to lack of initiative to uplift the adjoining areas by the then Government!!! Eventually, the Work was initiated and completed in personal capacity by private individual on occasion of his daughter’s wedding.

Takerwada, a small village about 12 kilometers away from Taluka place-Palanpur, in Banaskantha district of North Gujarat, faced acute power cut till 2002. The evening meal (dinner) had to be eaten by 6 pm as power failures occurred at least four times a week. Lanterns would be used by children for their homework and not while eating dinner as it would attract numerous insects.

This was Bharat,half a century of attaining independence!!!

65+ years had gone by, post independence but interior rural areas did not have the fortune of having electricity. There were Villages where people had never eaten their dinner in lit up surrounding!!! The children had no choice but to finish their studies under Lanterns!!!

Mahatma Gandhiji had projected the ‘Rurban’ model of economy, which provided the growth of rural areas with most efficient amenities, hence preventing the flow of people from rural area to urban areas, which would eventually lessen the burden on Cities. But most unfortunately, Mahatma Gandhiji’s idea of Rurban growth had been withered away by Congress Governments itself, post independence.

The Electrification done by Nehru Government and govts thereafter, concentrated mainly on Urban areas, eventually widening the gap between Rural and Urban areas.

Late PM Rajiv Gandhi proclaiming to ‘lead the nation towards the Computer Age’ had not made any attempt to provide Electricity to far away areas. What would make the ‘Computer’ work..?

When Narendra Modiji became the Hon. Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001. Being a dedicated grassroot swayamsevak of RSS and bjp, Modiji understood the nerve of the problems that common man suffered from.

Implementing his long sighted vision and determination to change this drudgery of rural population of Gujarat, he initiated Jyoti Gram Scheme (JGS) along with Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam LTD, in support, to reform the rural energy sector In 2003-04.

The Jyotigram Yojna, the name itself speaks of lighting of hope in lives of people belonging to interior rural areas.
Under JGS, 24 hour three phase power supply to non-agricultural users and improved quality power supply to farmers for minimum eight hours a day was ensured.

Parallel rural transmission network were laid across the state and supply feeders for agricultural, commercial and residential use were bifurcated at the sub-station. The scheme was dedicated to the nation by the then President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam in 2006. By 2006, the scheme had reached almost 95 % of the state’s 18,000 villages. By doing this, Gujarat became the first state in the country to undertake the radical reform of separating the feeder lines. The mammoth task was achieved by carrying out the replacement and complete rewiring of high and low tension cables, transformers, new electricity poles etc.

On the financial impact of the scheme, Gujarat managed to reduce the Aggregated Technical and Commercial losses (AT & C) from 35 % in 2004 to 23.7 % in 2007, which was further reduced to 19 % in 2014, where as the country average was 26 %!!!
This made Gujarat, a power surplus state, leading to an additional revenue to the state.

Upon becoming the Prime Minister of Bharat, Narendra Modiji decided to change the scenario of entire nation. Hence, immediately after NDA Government attaining Power, in the first Union budget, the scheme of Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojna was announced, which emphasised on Feeder separation to augment power supply to the rural areas and for strengthening the sub-transmission and distribution systems. It’s long term aim was to provide 24/7 uninterrupted power supply to all homes.

Approximately Four Crore homes were not provided with Electricity, and hence by 2018, the Modi Government aimed at electrifying each of these homes. The DDYGJY (Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojna) was launched in September 2015 by Hon. Prime Minister Shri. Narendrabhai Modi, under the Ministry of Power, headed by Shri. Piyush Goyal. The Central Government had envisaged ambitious plan of electrifying 18,452 villages by May 2018, that is in 1000 days from its launch.

921 projects had been created by the Ministry of Power to electrify 1,21,225 villages. It’s aim also included 5,92,779 villages with partial electrification to be electrified to the optimum. Additionally , 397.45 Lakh BPL families were granted free Power connection. The BPL population would be provided Power connection, free of cost and the other deprived class would only have to pay Rs 500/- for connection, which they can pay in instalments.

When Modi Government came to power in 2014, 18,542 villages were without electricity. 14,582 out of them were villages in Eastern Bharat. 5,790 out of them belonged to North Eastern region. This data indicates that Electrification done so far, had been entirely lop-sided. The Eastern and North Eastern region had remained backward due to such unequal distributions.

In my opinion, this is a serious issue. The previous Governments had imparted step-motherly treatment towards Eastern and North Eastern regions. The most visible (but not acceptable) reason being lesser number of parliamentary seats, hence smaller vote bank to be appeased. But, looking at the current political scenario, I would not mind to clearly state that previous Government of UPA, worked on political agenda to please neighbouring nations, by prohibiting growth machinery in these strategic areas.

In the state of Assam, the interior areas were victim of Naxal movement. Darkness in surroundings created havoc for safety. The electrification has acted as safety measure to wipe out the Naxalism.

The women residing in far away village in Tripura in North East, used to start cooking dinner at 2 pm in the afternoon, as darkness would prevail by early evening!!!

Electrifying the village has benefitted the women to cook dinner after night fall and utilise the ample time in empowering themselves by indulging in small entrepreneurship.

For all non-electrified villages, life and its activities remained limited to Sunlight, from Sunrise to Sunset. Imagine the happiness in the hearts of villagers when their lives were lit up with ray of electricity.

The deadline for the Center’s rural electrification programme was May 2018. However, it was achieved before the deadline in April, with electrification of Leisang village in Manipur.

The Ministry of Power has launched new app, GARV-II to provide real-time data of all Six Lakh villages of the country. The app envisaged to ensure transparency in the implementation of rural electrification as well as Citizen’s participation in the programme.

The Modi Government did not intend to stop this mission with just rural electrification. The Modi Government’s aim was to lit up each and every houses of country, irrespective of it being in rural, urban or interior area. Hence they  implemented the mission mode in executing SAUBHAGYA YOJNA. (PradhanMantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojna).

Hon. Prime Minister launched the Saubhagya Yojna in Delhi on September 25th 2017. The project is of 16,320 Crores and the Govt. of Bharat provided largely for this scheme for all states/UTs. Under Saubhagya Yojna, NDA Government aimed at providing energy access to all by last mile connectivity and electricity connection to all remaining in-electrified households in rural as well as urban areas to achieve universal household certification in the nation.

How life changes with advent of Electricity.

In Tihari, in Gadhwal district of Uttarakhand, electrification of village was completed on the day of Diwali in 2016.

The festival of light lit up the lives. The supply of power lit up their souls. 

A resident of the village, who was unemployed got job at the Sewa Kendra and later started his own service of Xerox. For lack of power, villagers had to travel 50 kms to get  photo copy done!!! The power supply, has enabled such service in the village itself, which is a source of employment as well as locally available essential service.

Aarti Salma, a young girl studying in 9th std, in J&K, found it extremely difficult to pursue studies in darkness. During exams had to travel 30 km to a relatives house to study after sunset in Electricity. A young girl’s fear to travel in darkness ended with her village being electrified.

Target for electrifying all household under Saubhagya Scheme was completed by December 2018.

First and foremost, Electrification substitutes the use of Kerosene for lightning purpose, resulting in the reduction in indoor pollution, which in turn would save the people from health hazards. Lighting after the Sunset provided and enhanced the personal safety for the women. The natives indulged in post sunset social as well as economic activities. Availability of electricity boosts education service across the nation. Household electrification increased the likelihood that women would study and earn income.

Far away interior areas and surrounding rural areas with lack of electrification, resulted in lower economic activity in the area. The vicious circle led to lack of job opportunities in their own native place and compelled them to migrate in search of gainful employment.

Upnishads talked of तमसो माँ ज्योतिर्गमय:

Those who were born amidst light do not have any idea what it is to feel the darkness.

When the Government at Center, governs the country, with sensitivity towards citizens and not treat them as Vote-Banks, the nation steps up on the growth journey. Hon. Prime Minister Modiji, is one such leader, who has not just initiated lighting up the lives but inspired confidence in their soul.