Trace how electricity access in India moved from urban centres to the hinterland, from the colonial period to present rural electrification schemes. What lessons does this hold?

Electricity in India spread from presidency towns and industrial enclaves outward to the mufassal (the provincial hinterland). Over time, the measure of success also changed: first supply points, then villages, then households, and now hours of supply.

Tracing the Journey

• Colonial enclaves: Early power went to presidency towns, cantonments and mining or industrial users. Commercial demand decided who got it, not need.
• Princely initiative: Mysore's hydel station at Sivasamudram (Kaveri) pushed supply outward. In November 1926, the state directed its Chief Electrical Engineer to estimate the cost of supplying Seringapatam, Yedatore and Nanjangud. These towns had petitioned years earlier, and supply depended on a new installation being completed [1].
• Post-1947 planning: The Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 created State Electricity Boards. This made rural extension a state responsibility.
• Village-centric phase: Under RGGVY (2005) and later DDUGJY, a village counted as "electrified" if just 10% of households and its public places were connected. All villages were declared electrified in April 2018 [4].
• Household-centric phase: Saubhagya (2017) moved the target from villages to households through last-mile connections [3].
• Supply-centric phase: Average rural supply rose from 12.5 hours/day (2014-15) to 18.5 hours (2019-20) [2], and to 22.6 hours in FY2025 [5].

Flow: Presidency towns → Princely-state towns (1926) → Villages → Households → Reliable hours

Lessons

• Generation before wires: Mysore promised supply only after it had new capacity [1]. Connections without power mean little: around 2018, about 53% of villages got under 12 hours of household supply [4].
• Metrics shape outcomes: The 10% threshold hid exclusion [4]. Progress should be tracked as hours, voltage quality and reliability for each feeder (local supply line).
• Demand from below works: The 1926 petitions [1] are an early version of today's consumer-rights and grievance frameworks.
• Productive use sustains networks: Anchor buyers made early grids pay for themselves. Today, power for agriculture and MSMEs must sustain rural DISCOM finances.
• Resource federalism: The Kaveri that powered Mysore is now shared by several states. New hydro projects therefore need inter-state cooperation.

Access has shifted from enclaves to households, and the remaining task is reliability. Universal 24×7, affordable and increasingly renewable power, backed by financially sound DISCOMs, would fulfil SDG 7 and the constitutional promise of equal opportunity in Article 38. That would finally close the gap between city and mufassal.