Definition of Village Electrification:

Definition of village electrification is a legacy issue which, though, mandates electrification of at least 10 per cent households in a village, but does not imply restricting household electrification only to 10 per cent.As per recent reports from the States, household electrification level in rural areas is more than 82per cent ranging from 47 to 100 per centacross various States. Had the definition been cause, such level of household electrification could not have been achieved.

The variation in level of electrification across various regions and states within the country is primarily because of its size, heterogeneity in terms of topography; location; resources and also because of varying efforts made by the States for household electrification.

The Government has already moved out of this dichotomy and launched ‘Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana’- Saubhagya to achieve universal household electrification in the country by 31^stDecember 2018. Therefore, the debate over definition of village electrification in the present scenariohas lost the significance.