Although the Planning Commission's approach paper to the 10th Plan (2002-07) fails to give suggestions on rural electrification, its working group's report to the Power Ministry, has said it is necessary to prescribe a minimum number of rural households to be given power connections before a village is declared electrified.

Around 80,000 villages in India are yet to get power connections. Of these, 18,000 are in remote areas. The Panel said since this number was indicative, it was imperative for the government to do a survey in collaboration with Panchayati Raj institutes. While the Power Ministry has targeted 2007 as the year of complete village electrification, the commission's report sees 2012 as a more feasible date taking the number of households into consideration.

Traditional grid connection, according to the report, would be uneconomical in villages. So far as individual systems like solar lanterns and domestic lights go, it has suggested that a revolving fund should be created with contributions from beneficiaries to run such systems. Emphasising the need to adopt a barefoot approach to train the unemployed rural youth, the panel estimates job opportunities for nearly 50,000 unemployed youth.

The cost and pace at which rural electrification is taking place, it would be technically and financially impractical to expect the non-electrified villages to be covered even in two decades.

The report said decentralising power generation will be possible with renewable energy sources such as solar energy, biomass, small hydro power and wind energy. The report also found that most hilly states and the Himalayan region, marked “electrified” on government papers, did not have power supply for “months on end”. “The supposedly electrified villages depend entirely on kerosene for lighting,” the report says.

Decentralised system involving village communities in planning, technology options, installing systems, collecting revenue is needed for a brighter future, the report adds.

It is estimated that on an average, an investment of Rs 20 lakh would be required, to electrify a remote village. The investment could provide solar home systems in at least 60 households and two to four pumps for irrigation or drinking water supply.

Considering that remote villages would be among the most economically backward, the panel suggested that the rural electrification programme should be taken up on the basis of a 90 per cent grant from the government and 10 per cent contribution from users.

This would work out to about Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,600 per household. Considering that this amount would be fairly steep for the backward regions, the report called for alternative means in financing. Assistance from private entrepreneurs, NGOs and government funds have also been mooted in the report.