‘Country’s energy plan is anti-poor’

International environmental activist group Greenpeace has released a report, Still Waiting, which reveals that despite growth in electricity generation and increasing carbon emissions, India’s rural poor continue to be deprived of electricity.

The report challenges the government’s energy model and recommends a decentralised energy mix as a solution to overcome social injustice and mitigate climate change.
The report compares the electricity supply scenarios in rural and urban areas of five states — Orissa, Bihar, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra. In each state, one tier A, one tier B city, and three villages were surveyed. The villages had power supply for less than 12 hours a day, while the cities and towns received 22 to 24 hours of supply.

“India’s rural population is suffering due to poor quality of supply or no supply, even in areas that officially have electrification,” said Shankar Sharma, author of the report and a former member of the Central Electricity Authority.