In 9 Of 28 States, Rural Households Get Fewer Than 18 Hrs Of Power A Day

 

Rural households in nine states--Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Mizoram, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh--get fewer than 18 hours of power per day, on average, according to data submitted by the power ministry to Lok Sabha.

 

The central government has a target to provide 24x7 power to all households by 2021-22, but currently connected rural households in only five of 28 states--Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal--get 24 hours of electricity, according to power ministry data. The ministry’s response did not include data for Goa and the union territories.

 

Connected rural households in Mizoram get electricity for only 13 hours a day, on average.

 

The central government has begun a joint initiative called ‘Power for All’ with all the states and union territories to provide 24x7 power supply to all households, industrial and commercial units and adequate power to agricultural consumers by 2021-22.

 

Source: Ministry of Power Note: Data for Goa and union territories are not available. Data is for June 2017. Mizoram data is for May 2017. Uttarakhand data is for January 2017.

 

(Patil is an analyst with IndiaSpend.)