The Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) is one flagship programme of the UPA government where the entire budgeted allocation of Rs 33,000 crore has been committed, but the desired result is still elusive. RGGVY, a component of Bharat Nirman, was launched in April 2005 with a mandate to electrify 100,000 villages and release electricity connections to 2.3 crore rural BPL households in five years. Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) is the nodal agency for the programme through which projects can be financed with 90 per cent capital subsidy for rural electricity distribution backbone, creation of village electrification infrastructure and decentralised distributed generation and supply. According to the Union power ministry, 90,593 previously un-electrified villages have been electrified and 171,731 villages were intensely electrified as on January 27, under the RGGVY. Free electricity connections were provided to 14,316,000 below-poverty-line (BPL) households and 110,567 villages were covered under franchisee development in 16 states. A total of 573 projects with an estimated outlay of Rs 26,353 crore have been sanctioned and total capital subsidy of Rs 22,125 crore released by the government. The ministry has asked for another Rs 6,000 crore for the RGGVY and they seem likely to get it in the coming budget. The programme may be on course in terms of allocation, spending and creation of infrastructure but even in areas covered by the RGGVY, theare are big gaps. Though 89,675 villages were electrified till December 31, 2010, only 73,678 villages were energised. Major gaps have been noticed in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa. Another area of concern is establishment of franchisees. The franchisee establishment is considered essential for commercial viability of rural electrification. It has been made mandatory in RGGVY. Though 260,000 villages have been electrified under the programme, franchisees have been appointed in only 66,646. Arunanchal Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, J&K, Kerala, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Orissa, Sikkim, Tripura and Tamil Nadu have not appointed franchisees in any RGGVY villages. GOALS AND ACTUAL WHAT STATE UTILITIES DID ON VILLAGE ELECTRIFICATION DURING 2010-11 (UP TO THIRD QUARTER) State Implementing agency Targets 2010-11 Achievement % Achievement (up to third qtr) Assam ASEB Mar-05 2,053 107.9 Bihar BSEB Jul-04 247 14.8 Jharkhand JSEB 350 32 9.1 Arunachal Pradesh Power Deptt. 540 226 41.9 Himachal Pradesh HPSEB 50 13 26 Jammu & Kashmir Power Deptt 34 16 47-1 Karnataka DISCOMs 25 1 4.0 Madhya Pradesh State Discoms 125 149 119.2 Manipur Power Deptt 109 76 69.7 Meghalaya MeSEB 12 13 108.3 Mizoram Power Deptt 55 25 45-5 Nagaland Power Deptt 50 36 72.0 Rajasthan State Discoms 785 433 55-2 Sikkim Power Deptt 7 14 200 Tripura TSECL 42 28 66.7 Total 5,758 3,362 58.4 Source: Background Papers, Annual Conference of Chief Secretaries With this, state utilities being slow in village electrification has been a problem. State utilities were given a target to electrify 5,758 villages for the first three quarters of 2010-2011. They electrified 3,362 villages (58 per cent) by December 31, 2010. Most state utilities, especially of Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, J&K, Karnataka, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan and Tripura have shown slow progress. Similarly, many state utilities have also been slow in releasing BPL connections. They were given a target of releasing 2,609,000 BPL connections for the first three quarters of 2010-2011. They had achieved 2,043,000 (78 per cent) by December 31, 2010.