56. Key Issues for Rural Electrification

63 per cent of all rural households in India do not have electricity and use kerosene for lighting. Even for those rural areas, which are electrified, there is a tremendous shortage of power supply. Thus it is not uncommon for these areas to have 10–15 hours of blackouts and brownouts every day. There is a shortfall of about 15,000-20,000 MW of electricity in the country and we require about 140,000 MW of additional capacity by 2010 with an estimated outlay of Rs. 550,000 crore. Because of tremendous shortage of electricity, industrial growth and general life in the country is seriously affected. Moreover, with any problems in the national grid, rural areas are affected the most, since the state electricity boards provide urban areas with electricity on priority basis. However, the recently enacted Electricity Act 2003, which allows for the first time in India a private utility to produce and distribute power, provides a glimmer of hope not only for the country but more so for the rural areas. Hence, small rural private and cooperative power utilities can be empowered to quickly and efficiently supply electricity. Work done at the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute in Phaltan, Maharashtra, has shown that each taluka in the country produces enough agricultural residues so that all its electricity demands can be met by using them in 10–20 MW biomass-based power plants.