After over 70 years of Independence, India completes electrification of all of its villages

As electricity reached Manipur’s Leisang village on the evening of Saturday, India, after over 70 years of Independence completed the electrification of all of its villages.

Leisang village, located in the Senapati district of Manipur with its 65-strong population (2011 census), now joins the other 597,463 census villages in the country who have access to electricity.

The idea of electrifying every village in India was conveyed by PM Modi in his August 15 speech in 2015 where he promised electrification all un-electrified villages within 1000 days.

The task which took 988 days (as on April 28, 2018) to complete is being attributed to an effective implementation of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) through Rural Electrification Corporation by the Ministry of Power.

28th April 2018 will be remembered as a historic day in the development journey of India. Yesterday, we fulfilled a commitment due to which the lives of several Indians will be transformed forever! I am delighted that every single village of India now has access to electricity.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 29, 2018

Prime Minister Modi also tweeted about the development this morning.

As per government records, by April 1, 2015, India had about 18,452 unelectrified villages. Since then until April 28, 2018, India managed to electrify close to 16 and a half villages every day.

As per the DDUGJY website, there were 1275 additional villages that had no electricity. These villages have also been included in the national power grid or have been electrified by off-grid solutions.

Prime Minister Modi, in another tweet this morning, credited “all those who worked tirelessly on the ground, including the team of officials, the technical staff”.

I salute the efforts of all those who worked tirelessly on the ground, including the team of officials, the technical staff and all others, to make this dream of a #PowerfulIndia a reality. Their efforts today will help generations of Indians in the coming years. pic.twitter.com/t8WjZgpNuT — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 29, 2018

As per data from the World Bank, about 79.17% of India had access to electricity in 2014.

An electrified village as per the government definition, has the following: (i) provision of basic infrastructure such as distribution transformers and lines in the inhabited locality, (ii) provision of electricity in public places like schools, panchayat office, health centers, dispensaries, and community centers, and (iii) at least 10% of the total number of households in the village are electrified.

Under the decisive leadership of PM @NarendraModi India has finally been able to electrify all its villages before the set target date. With the elimination of darkness from the lives of fellow Indian villagers, we commit ourselves to building a new and #PowerfulIndia pic.twitter.com/TJ8irmx4tk

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) April 29, 2018

BJP leader and current Minister of Railways and Coal, Piyush Goyal, who was at the helm of the power ministry between 2014 and 2017, tweeted to express his contentment.