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and Challenges
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 September 2017 launched the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har
Ghar Yojana, which is alternatively known as -“Saubhagya”. The mandate of the scheme is to
achieve universal household electrification in the country by the end of 2018. The scheme will
benefit over 3 crore households across the length and breadth of the country.
It is against this backdrop, it is pertinent to know the key features of the Saubhagya Scheme and its
benefits to the society and the challenges in its implementation.
Objective: The objective of the ‘Saubhagya’ is to provide energy access to all by last mile
connectivity and electricity connections to all remaining un-electrified households in rural as well as
urban areas of the country.
Goal: To provide universal access to power by December 2018. The scheme will be executed at a
cost of Rs 16,320 crores.
Beneficiaries: While poorer households would be provided electricity connections free of cost as
part of the scheme, other households would also be provided electricity connections under the
scheme on payment of Rs.500. The amount is recovered by the DISCOMs/Power Departments in
ten 10 instalments along with electricity bills.
The electricity connection to households include the release of electricity connections by drawing a
service cable from the nearest electricity pole to the household premise, installation of energy meter,
wiring for a single light point with LED bulb and a mobile charging point.
For households located in remote and inaccessible areas, solar power packs of 200 to 300 Watt and
battery back with 5 LED light, 1 DC Fan, 1 DC power plug along with repair and maintenance for 5
years would be provided.
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Convergence with other schemes: While the 24x7 Power for All is a joint initiative of the Union and
State governments to prepare a road map and action plan to ensure 24x7 power for all, Saubhagya
is a schematic support to address the issue of energy access. The saubhagya scheme was taken up
by realizing the fact that providing connectivity to all households is a prerequisite to ensure 24x7
power supply.
Similarly, the Saubhayga scheme helps in comprehensively addressing the issues of entry barrier,
last mile connectivity and release of electricity connections under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram
Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS). It should be noted that
DDUGHY envisages the creation of basic electricity infrastructure in villages / habitations,
strengthening & augmentation of existing infrastructure, metering of existing feeders / distribution
transformers / consumers to improve quality and reliability of power supply in rural areas, the IPDS
provides for creation of necessary infrastructure to provide electricity in urban areas.
Budget: Rs. 16,320 crore allocated for the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana.
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Benefits of Saubhagya: The scheme will benefit the consumers in the following manner.
• Access to electricity would substitute the use of Kerosene for lighting purposes, resulting in
reduction in indoor pollution thereby saving people from health hazards.
• Electricity access would help in establishing efficient and modern health services in all parts of the
country.
• Lighting after the sunset also provides a sense of enhanced personal safety, especially for women,
and increase in post sunset social as well as economic activities.
• Availability of electricity will boost education services across all areas and quality lighting post
sunset would facilitate children to spend more time on studies and move ahead further in
prospective careers. Household electrification also increases the likelihood that women would study
and earn income.
• Substitution of use of Kerosene with electricity for lighting purposes would reduce annual subsidy
on Kerosene and would also help reduce the import of petroleum products.
• Electricity in each home would provide improved access to all kinds of communications like Radio,
Television, Internet, mobile, etc. through which everyone would be able to access all kinds of
important information available through these communication mediums.
• Farmers can access information about new and improved agriculture techniques, agro-machinery,
quality seeds, etc. resulting in a significant increase in agricultural production and consequently
increase in income. Farmers and youths can also explore the possibilities of setting up agro based
small industries.
• Implementation of scheme itself would result in employment generation in view of the requirement
of semi-skilled / skilled manpower for execution of works of household electrification. About 1000
lakh man-days works would be generated for implementation of the scheme.
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Challenges in implementation
The following are some of the challenges involved in the successful implementation of the
Saubhagya Scheme.
• At present, the DISCOMs are under a huge debt burden running into thousands of crores of
rupees. Though the Ujwal Discom Awas Yojana (UDAY) has been proving successful in improving
the financial health of DISCOMs, the implementation of the Saubhaygay by the end of 2018 is a
major challenge for them.
• The transmission and distribution losses of over 20% need to be reduced to a negligent level to
achieve the goals of the scheme.
• The corruption and the apathy of the lower officials in the power sector should be corrected for its
successful implementation. The involvement of Gram Sabhas in the implementation of the scheme is
a welcome step in this regard.
Conclusion
Access to electricity definitely has positive impact on quality of life of people in all aspects of daily
household chores and human development. The Saubhagya Scheme is a significant initiative since
it touches various aspects of human life – employment, health, education and education. Its
successful implementation is key to building smart villages, achieving energy security and improving
the lives of people living in remote and inaccessible areas.
More women equality would entail that the cultural effects reach the
future generations through children with the successive generation
normalizing gender equality as a culture. Women participation in the
labor force would also mean a better quality of education as well as
improvement in reproductive choice due to heightened awareness of
family planning. This would automatically imply that the standard of
living for average families also improve with additional income and
lower population frame.
Gender Equality Acts, Laws and Campaigns: Concluding for the Start
Several acts and laws are in place to curb the social evil called
gender inequality. In the United States, Acts that advocate equal pay
to men and women was passed as early as in 1963. In the United
Kingdom, there is the Act of Equality passed in 2010, which replaced
all previous laws regarding gender discrimination and propounded
that it seeks workplace equality and prevents discrimination based
on sex in every other sphere of public life.
Yes, in short term GST going to disturb the Indian economy and will
affect the way businesses operate and handle their taxes. GST game
is not for weak hearted. GST will help in improving the economy but
in long run and that is why it is called a “Reform”. It is possibly the
biggest economic reform since globalization which was done under
Mr. Manmohan Singh as finance minister. GST implementation in
India will be a huge success. GST taxation system will cause
inconvenience to citizens, businesses, and manufacturers as this
system is completely new to them but with the time people will
learn and get the hang of it. But there are positive and negative
impacts and effects of GST as well.
As always there are two sides to the coin, positive and negative; the
same rule applies to GST too. It will have some good and bad impact
too.
Real estate will get costlier, but buyers will be happy to pay more
because instead of paying numerous taxes like VAT tax, service tax,
Cess tax, etc. They have one direct tax GST which gives clear
knowledge of the amount they are paying to the developer. GST on
real estates will extend up to 12% that is 6.5% more than the
current tax. Developers have to face the burden of paying the tax of
the unsold flats which then can be recovered quickly, but this might
be bad for buyers as developers may increase their costs of the
property.
What is the Impact of GST on Electronics like Mobile Phones and Laptops?
The ordinary man can take a big sigh of relief because there will be
many opportunities for making significant savings on GST.
Personal care: Products like oil, soap, kajal tissue prices will come
down by 6% to 10%.
Hotels: If you are an avid traveler great news for you.
Accommodation under 1000rs will be exempted from GST tax, and
18% tax will be levied on above 5000rs accommodation. Taxes on
hotels have been reduced from 22% to 18%.
Air Travelling: Economy class fares have been reduced as it only
attracts 5% tax of GST.
Branded Goods: Most branded goods that were taxed at 23-25% is
reduced to 18% which means more shopping of branded goods at
reasonable rates.
Negative Impact of GST in India
Gst is confusing the common man even large scale businesses, they
need to rely on advocates and chartered accountants to make them
understand What is GST and how it works. Not only that but using
computerized process, online registration and return filing is a
hassle for those who are barely in touch with technology.
The government has estimated that Indian economy will require at
least 2 years to become stable.