Changing India: Racing towards 100 per cent electrification

As of August 2017, according to government numbers, 14,132 villages of the targeted 18,452 have been successfully electrified, that is 77 per cent of the target.

As India celebrates 70 years of Independence, many of its villages are yet to get access to electricity. But what comes as good news is the government's push to electrify India.

As of August 2017, according to government numbers, 14,132 villages of the targeted 18,452 have been successfully electrified, that is 77 per cent of the target.

From being forced to dive in darkness as night falls, remote villages in India now have access to electricity. Out of 17,88,08,792 target of household electrification, India has so far achieved 13,66,99,545 i.e., 76 per cent of target households have been electrified. By August 13, 2017, alone 59,565 households received electricity. 24 per cent more households are yet to receive electricity but the government is confident of a rapid shift.

Many Indian states have already reached 100 per cent electrification including states like Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu. Nagaland and Jharkhand with 44 per cent and 43 per cent electrification, are the least 'power'ful in India. Under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, the government is lighting up villages and rural parts of India.

A night-time map of the earth by NASA shows that nighttime lights in India have increased between 2012 and 2016. The images clicked by NASA's Suomi-NPP satellite shows bright night light activity in the Indian sub-continent. Union Minister Piyush Goyal claimed that this testified the success of rural electrification and implementation of clean energy projects in India.

NASA's satellite images show outlines of continents, laced with webs of light. In the latest global mosaic of Earth's night-light that NASA released based on images collected throughout 2016, India is seen brightened dramatically. Taking off from the images, John Nelson, a cartographer compared the equivalent pixels on two different maps and calculated the difference by subtracting the brightness value of one from the other.

OneIndia News