Sitharaman aims 'one nation one grid' for power sector: Union Budget 2019

Union Budget presented on 5^th July 2019 by Finance Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman brought into focus India's current power situation and underlined the steps the government has taken to solve the sector's problems.

The Saubhagya – 'Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana' — scheme was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2017 to accomplish household electrification by delivering las-tmile network and electricity associations to all households in rural and urban areas.

The expressed goal of the scheme was to give free associations to the poor people and at very low cost to other people.

The government had at first focused on March 31, 2019 as the due date for taking power lines to all households. It later declared that the objective would be met three months earlier, by December 31.

The government's Saubhagya scheme shows that as of today, the 100 per cent power association target has been met in all states barring Chhattisgarh — where power penetration currently stands at 99.67 per cent. 
An announcement issued by the government said that Uttar Pradesh — the state that represented almost 50 per cent of the focused beneficiaries — has accomplished 100 per cent electrification.

As indicated by power and renewable energy minister RK Singh, now that all Indian households have been electrified, the new government's attention is round the clock electricity at moderate rates.

As per Central Electricity Authority estimates, total power generation (thermal, hydel and nuclear combined) is expected to develop  6.5 per cent in the financial year 2019-2020 which is  almost double of last year’s 3.5 per cent growth) and total generation is expected to be around 1,330 billion in 2019-2020, of which 85 per cent would be thermal.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.