Electricity has reached every Indian village: Modi

Modi on Sunday confirmed that one of the major election promises made by his party BJP before coming to power in 2014, that of reaching electricity to every village in India, has been achieved on Saturday.

Modi tweeted on Sunday as he confirmed the success of his government to countrymen.

Modi said Apr 28, 2018 will be remembered as a historic day as every single village in India are having access to electricity now.

He said lives of several people across the nation will be changed forever after his government fulfilled the promise it had made.

"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," Modi tweeted.

Leisang village in Manipur was the last one to receive electricity on Saturday.

"Leisang village in Manipur, like the thousands of other villages across India has been powered and empowered! This news will make every Indian proud and delighted," Modi tweeted.

Already in India, a growing numbers of families in remote areas had started using solar energy or other non conventional sources to heat their homes, cook their meals and study at night. 

Indian business daily Mint reported : "According to the government data, all of India’s 597,464 census villages have been electrified. This assumes importance given that at the onset of Rs75,893 crore DDUGJY for village electrification under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, there were 18,452 un-electrified census villages."

"During the project work it was found out that an additional 1275 villages also didn’t have electricity access. As of 28 April, all these villages have got electricity access either through the national grid or off grid solutions. Also, 1,236 villages are uninhabited and 35 have been notified as grazing reserves," read the news report.

“We are just absolutely thrilled, excited and delighted. We have fulfilled our mandate, our promise and the work allotted to us by the government and the honourable Prime Minister,” P.V. Ramesh, chairman and managing director, REC told Mint.

During his Aug 15 Independence Day speech in 2015, Modi had said his government  will electrify all un-electrified villages within 1000 days.

The government made the move a year before the country is set to host the general elections.

Know what electrification of a village in India means:

A village would be declared as electrified if:

1) Basic infrastructure such as Distribution Transformer and Distribution lines are provided in the inhabited locality as well as the Dalit Basti/ hamlet where it exists. (For electrification through Non Conventional Energy Sources a Distribution transformer may not be necessary).

2) Electricity is provided to public places like Schools, Panchayat Office, Health Centres, Dispensaries, Community centers etc. and

3) The number of households electrified should be at least 10% of the total number of households in the village. The data contains details on the progress made towards village electrification for the month. The detail includes the cumulative achievement, percentage of villages electrified along with the number of unelectrified villages.