In this article we will discuss about:- 1. Introduction to Rural Electrification 2. Development of Rural Electrification 3. Progress 4. Impact 5. Suggestions 6. Cooperation.
Introduction to Rural Electrification:
Rural electrification is one of the most basic needs for transformation of rural life and agricultural production and is a key factor in the development of rural industries. It is vital for the socioeconomic betterment of the people living in villages. By bringing electricity to the villages, to be used for domestic purposes and for pumping water from wells, cost can be reduced.
Pumping water for irrigation by electricity costs only one-tenth of the cost of lifting it by bullock-power and one-third of that of using diesel engines. Besides, rural, industrial and employment potential that remains, even to this day, largely untapped, could be utilized and raise the income level and national output. Therefore, electricity in rural India’s village must be regarded as a vital need rather than an amenity or luxury.
Development of Rural Electrification:
The development of rural electrification is envisaged on the following grounds:
(a) India is an agricultural country, where 80% of the people living in villages are still economically backward. From these villages there is a continuous drain of a large number of young people to the cities and towns in desperate search for a livelihood. This situation creates grave social and economic problems in the cities besides making the villages the home of decrepit fellows and brings about disintegration of rural family ties; and impoverishing the rural areas with regard to enterprise, enlightened and progressive villagers and skill.
This heavy exodus can be stopped by the quick introduction of rural electrification, through which a large number of agro-industries could be developed to provide employment opportunities to rural people in their own villages and preserve the local talent for the development of the area itself.
(b) Agriculture is still a backward economy of subsistence type unable for producing food for the masses, mainly for lack of water supply. Wells are too deep in certain areas and drawing of water from these entail heavy burden on man and cattle. This could be reduced if electricity is used for installing pump sets. Use of power can also modernize agricultural methods thereby increasing agricultural productivity.
(c) The Energy Survey Committee (1965) has estimated that about 100 million tonnes of firewood and about 55 m. tonnes of cowdung cakes are consumed principally for cooking and lighting purposes. This is due to non-availability of any other source of power. Its use led to continued denudation of forest cover and depriving the land of an important fertilizer.
The study made by N.C.A.E.R. has revealed that a high proportion of energy in the rural domestic sector comes from the traditional non-commercial sources (cowdung accounting for 86 m. tonnes; firewood 46 m. tonnes and vegetable waste, 26 m. tonnes respectively). This colossal waste could be stopped if electricity is provided for domestic consumption. Therefore, if forest plantations are not taken up immediately, the development of electricity in rural areas is a must which should receive early attention.
Hence, power must be taken in a big way into the farm and rural households. This should be in consonance with the policy of dispersal at industries in different parts with a view to bring about balanced regional development of areas which abound in raw materials and human resources but lack sufficient supply of water and power. If India is to survive as a self-respecting nation, it is vital to ensure that power development in the rural areas proceeds along proper lines so that it may never suffer from want of Power and Food.
Progress of Rural Electrification:
Keeping in view the paramount importance of electricity in rural life, concerted efforts have been made to accelerate the pace of rural electrification. Starting from a mere 3,061 villages electrified in 1951, it has been possible to electrify 2,22,869 villages by the end of March, 1977, covering about 36 per cent of the villages in the country.
Rural electrification programme was subsequently integrated with minimum needs programme and it was extended to cover all the states. The cumulative number of villages electrified at the beginning of Eighth Five Year Plan was 4,68,840. Thus, 81 per cent of the total number of villages were electrified at the beginning of Eighth Five Year Plan. Similarly, the total number of pumpsets energised has reached 83.46 lakhs by the end of Seventh Five Year Plan.
During the First and Second Plan period the stress was on the electrification of villages for providing employment opportunities in the rural areas. After the severe drought conditions of 1964-65, the stress was re-oriented towards energisation of irrigation pumpsets for increasing agricultural production. There were only 21,008 energised pumpsets at the beginning of the First Plan. This number has increased to 33,41,305 at the end of 1978.
The Fourth Plan did not specify any target in respect of electrification of villages as it was primarily oriented towards energisation of irrigation pumpsets. The target was placed at energising of 12.50 lakhs with an outlay of Rs. 444.65 crores. The achievement during the Fourth Plan has been the electrification of 82,548 villages and energisation of 13,52,307 irrigation pumpsets/tubewells.
At the end of Sixth Plan 64.11 per cent of the villages were electrified and about 47.57 of the pumpsets were energised. Rural electrification increased very sharply during Seventh Five Year Plan and at the end of Seventh Five Year Plan about 83.13 per cent villages were electrified. Rate of rural electrification was slow during the Eighth Five Year Plan. Thus, about 18,000 villages were electrified during the Eighth Five Year Plan. At the end of Eighth Five Year Plan about 87 per cent villages were electrified. Similarly, at the end of Eighth Five Year Plan around 79.12 pumpsets were energised.
Impact of Rural Electrification:
Rural electrification has helped in modernising the rural and agricultural sector of the economy. Rural electrification is a positive input in agricultural development. It is helpful in the growth of irrigation facilities and increases the area under irrigation. It is helpful in several other farm activities such as threshing. Apart from the impact on agriculture, rural electrification has significantly helped the development of rural industries. Rural electrification has helped the growth of processing and manufacturing units.
The number of small agro processing units are increasing very sharply in rural areas. Rural electrification has resulted in improvement of the life style of the people of the rural areas. The use of electricity has popularised the use of radio, cinema and television. Several studies have established positive impact of rural electrification on agricultural productivity ‘rural industrialisation’ employment generation, quality of life, etc.
Most of the balance potential is in the north-eastern region and in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan. There are about 10,000 villages which are at considerable distance from the power grid and it will be economical to provide electrical energy to many such places through alternative sources of energy.
A few facts about rural electrification may be noted:
(1) The rural electrification programme has been concentrated among villages in which the population ranges upto 10,000 with a coverage, of only 19 per cent of the total number of villages.
(2) Out of a total number of villages, upto March, 1990 about 4.7 lakh have been electrified, i.e., about 78 per cent have the advantage of electricity.
(3) While in the country as a whole, 78 per cent of all villages have been electrified, the proportion in more than half of the states is below the natural level, such as in U.P., Bihar; Andhra Pradesh Gujarat, M.P., Karnataka, West Bengal and Rajasthan etc.
However, Haryana has been the first State to have achieved the goal of cent per cent rural electrification on Nov. 2, 1970. In Kerala 96.4 per cent; in Tamil Nadu 98.6 per cent and in Dadra and Nagar Haveli 58.1 per cent of the villages have been electrified so far.
(4) As compared to other countries, rural electrification has not made much headway in India. For instance, more than 66 per cent of the New Zealand’s population is provided with electricity. This percentage is 75 in Tasmania, 90 in Japan, 90 in France, 93 in England and Wales as against only 16 in India. Agricultural areas electrified in Sweden is 65 per cent, in Norway 55 per cent, in Denmark 85 per cent and Italy 95 per cent, and 100 per cent each in Czechoslovakia, Holland, Belgium and Switzerland.
Suggestions for Further Development of Rural Areas:
The sine-qua-non of the development of outlying rural areas lies in the progress of rural electrification on a much larger scale than at present.
A few suggestions may be offered in this connection:
First, it is not enough merely to make more power available to the rural areas but it is also necessary to ensure that connections are sanctioned and actually provided without delay.
Second, the villager seeking power connection is not confronted with conditions which are beyond his means or ability to fulfil.
Third, the electricity rates he has to pay should be reasonable. For this purpose, the tariff structure should be rationalised and uniformity of rates should be brought about for a given class of consumer throughout each state, if not over the whole country. Besides, rural electrification programmes should be subsidised as has been done in countries like UK, USA, USSR, Japan, Norway, Canada and New Zealand.
Fourth, small diesel sets should be installed for supplying power in villages too far from the main supply lines. It should be economical and also should eliminate the need to maintain a diesel pumping set by each village.
Fifth, incentives like:
(i) Free technical service and advice on the choice of pumpsets;
(ii) Creation of facilities for their installation as well as domestic wire installation, where necessary;
(iii) Facilities of hire-purchase of pumpsets;
(iv) Limiting the amount of security deposits payable by the consumer, and
(v) The maintenance of pumpsets at nominal cost should be offered liberally.
Sixth, emphasis should be laid on the energisation of clusters of irrigation pumps keeping in view the groundwater availability in various areas.
Finally, rural electrification co-operative should be extended and these should be closely linked with the industrial processing co-operatives.
Rural Electrification Corporation:
The R.E.C., with a plan outlay of Rs. 150 crores in the Fourth Plan, was set up in the public sector in 1969. Concessional financing is provided by the corporation for schemes relating to backward areas which have an agricultural potential. It makes an integrated approach in projects by financing close monitoring, strengthening the distribution system and the reduction of system losses.
Upto June 30, 1978, the Corporation had sanctioned 1902 rural electrification schemes of the State Electricity Boards involving loans of Rs. 788.16 crores; as against Rs. 111.4 crores for 219 schemes in 1972-73. Corporations’ actual disbursements during 1977-78 amounted to Rs. 175.3 crores on completion of the 1902 projects, 9,24,543 pumpsets would be energised, 1,40,147 Agro industries set up and 1,11,468 new villages electrified.