100 years ago: Electric lighting for the Mufassal

1. At a Glance

• A The Hindu "100 years ago" archival item, datelined Mysore, November 2 [1926]. It reports that the Government of Mysore told the Chief Electrical Engineer to Government to prepare estimates for supplying electric power to three towns: Seringapatam, Yedatore and Nanjangad [1].
• The plan depended on the new installation at Sivasamudram being completed [1].
• The three towns had petitioned the Government "some years ago" for electric supply. This is an early case of local demand driving state-led electrification [1].
• UPSC relevance: princely-state modernisation (Mysore), the history of hydroelectricity in India, and the old "Mufassal" (provincial hinterland) vs presidency-town divide in access to infrastructure. This fits GS-I Modern History and GS-III Energy and Infrastructure.

2. Why in the News

• Reprinted in The Hindu's "100 years ago" column, Page 9, International Print Edition, Thursday 5 November 2026 [1].
• Static/historical topic. No policy trigger from 2024-26 was found in whitelisted sources.

3. Background & Evolution

• Terminology: "Mufassal" (mofussil) is a colonial-era word for the provincial or rural interior, as opposed to the capital or presidency town. Here it means the smaller towns around Mysore city.
• Driving rationale: the towns of Yedatore, Nanjangad and Seringapatam had made representations to Government asking for power. This was local demand from below [1].
• Administrative step (Nov 1926): the Government directed the Chief Electrical Engineer to Government to prepare cost estimates [1].
• Enabling condition: extending supply was "considered quite possible" once the new installation at Sivasamudram was finished. In other words, the plan relied on more generating capacity at Sivasamudram [1].
• Earlier milestones: the founding year of the Sivasamudram (Shivanasamudra) station, its first supply to the Kolar Gold Fields, and the first electrification of Bangalore are widely reported. However, the searches found no whitelisted (Tier 1-4) source for them, and non-whitelisted sources give different dates. Check them against NCERT or Karnataka government records before using them in an answer.

4. Core Static Facts

Item	Fact
Dateline	Mysore, November 2 (1926) [1]
Authority	Government of Mysore (princely state) [1]
Officer directed	Chief Electrical Engineer to Government [1]
Task	Prepare estimates for supplying electric power [1]
Towns covered	Seringapatam, Yedatore, Nanjangad [1]
Power source	New installation at Sivasamudram, once complete [1]
Origin of demand	Representations by the towns "some years ago" [1]
Publication	The Hindu, 5 Nov 2026, p. 9, International edition, "100 years ago" [1]

• Place names now (standard identification, all in present-day Karnataka): Seringapatam is Srirangapatna; Yedatore is Krishnarajanagara (K.R. Nagar); Nanjangad is Nanjangud.
• Sivasamudram (Shivanasamudra) is on the Kaveri (Cauvery) river.

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Historical

• Shows that a princely state (Mysore) was itself planning to extend electricity to smaller towns [1]. This goes against the idea that modern infrastructure in India came only through British India.
• The towns' earlier petitions show that towns were already asking for public utilities in the 1920s [1].

Administrative / Governance

• The process followed a set order: petition → government direction → technical estimate by a specialist engineering office [1]. This is an early form of project appraisal.
• The existence of a "Chief Electrical Engineer to Government" post [1] shows that a specialised technical bureaucracy had been set up.

Economic

• Supply to new towns depended on adding generating capacity (the new Sivasamudram installation) [1]. Network expansion followed supply capacity, as it still does.
• Electricity reaching Srirangapatna, K.R. Nagar and Nanjangud could support small industry, temple-town economies (Nanjangud) and lighting for trade.

Scientific / Technological

• The plan relied on hydroelectric generation at Sivasamudram [1]. A renewable river source powered a network across a whole region.

Social / Equity

• The "Mufassal" framing shows the urban-rural gap in energy access. The same issue shaped later rural electrification policy in independent India.

6. Recent Developments (last 12-18 months)

• No dated recent developments were found in whitelisted sources during this search.
• The only current hook is the archival reprint on 5 Nov 2026 [1].

7. Prelims Hooks

• In Nov 1926 the Mysore Government directed the Chief Electrical Engineer to Government to estimate power supply for three towns [1].
• The three towns: Seringapatam, Yedatore, Nanjangad [1].
• The supply depended on completing the new installation at Sivasamudram [1].
• The towns had petitioned the Government years earlier for electricity [1].
• Sivasamudram/Shivanasamudra is a hydroelectric site on the Kaveri river.
• Yedatore is the old name of Krishnarajanagara (K.R. Nagar), in Mysuru district.
• Seringapatam is Srirangapatna, an island town on the Kaveri and the capital of Tipu Sultan.
• Nanjangad is Nanjangud, on the Kapila (Kabini) river, known for the Srikanteshwara temple.
• "Mufassal/Mofussil" means the provincial interior, not the presidency or capital town.
• The initiative came from a princely state (Mysore), not a British Indian province [1].

8. Why the Towns Had to Wait Behind a Gold Mine

• The first users of Sivasamudram power were far away, not nearby
• Power from the Sivasamudram falls on the Kaveri went to Mysuru, Bengaluru and the Kolar Gold Fields, more than 100 miles away [2].
• The Kolar mines were run by a British company. It began working them in 1880 [3].

• A big mine buys a lot of power every day and pays for it. So it made sense to supply it first.

• Small towns were next in line, and the line was long

• Seringapatam, Yedatore and Nanjangad had asked for electricity "some years ago" [1].
• In 1926 the Government still only ordered estimates (cost calculations). Supply would come only after the new installation was finished [1].

• So the towns' power depended on spare generating capacity (the total power a station can produce). Their request alone was not enough.

• Why this matters for an answer

• Early hydropower in Mysore served big industrial buyers first. Towns were added later, only when extra capacity came.
• This pattern explains the "Mufassal" gap better than simply saying "urban bias".

9. Was Mysore's Power Really for Its People? The Case Against

• The strongest objection
• Mysore is often praised as a "model" princely state. But its best-known early power customer was a British-run gold mine [2][3].

• Seen this way, the electricity mainly helped take gold out for a foreign company. It did not mainly light Indian homes.

• What is right about this objection

• The towns' request for power was still only at the estimate stage in 1926, even though they had asked years earlier [1]. So ordinary towns were clearly not the first priority.

• The Kolar mines stayed with a British company until they were nationalised (taken over by the government) in 1956 [3].

• Why the objection does not settle the matter

• The 1926 item shows the state acting on petitions from small towns (formal requests from the towns) and asking its own engineer to plan supply for them [1]. A purely extractive set-up would have no reason to do this.

• The income from a large paying buyer like the mine could help fund later expansion to towns. Industry first and towns later can be one sequence, not two opposite goals.

• How to use this in Mains

• For the question "princely states as pioneers", do not just praise Mysore. Say that it was a pioneer, but its priorities were shaped by colonial industry. Then give the 1926 extension to towns as the other side.

10. Getting a Connection Is Not the Same as Getting Power

• The 1926 lesson: generation had to come before wires

• Mysore did not promise supply until new capacity at Sivasamudram was ready [1]. A wire with no power behind it is useless.

• India's modern schemes counted connections first

• Saubhagya (the 2017 scheme to give every household an electricity connection) mainly counted homes connected. It did not count hours of supply.
• Average rural supply rose from 12.5 hours a day in 2014-15 to 18.5 hours in 2019-20, says the Ministry of Power [4]. This is better, but it is still not 24 hours.

• An earlier PRS analysis found about 53% of villages got less than 12 hours of power a day for homes [7]. (This is an older figure. Use it only as background.)

• Why rural shops still run on diesel

• A 2019 study found that many rural enterprises (small businesses) kept using diesel generators. Grid power was not reliable, especially during evening power cuts [5].

• So the household connection count can look complete while village businesses still lack dependable power.

• What should follow

• The Ministry of Power should track hours and quality of supply for each village or feeder (the local supply line), not just the number of connections.
• This is the same rule Mysore followed in 1926: first make sure the supply exists, then promise it [1].

11. The Same River Now Has Too Many Claimants

• Kaveri hydropower is now a dispute between states
• A new Shivanasamudra hydro project at Shimsa was first proposed in 2003, together with a reservoir at Mekedatu, for power and Bengaluru's drinking water [6].

• Tamil Nadu objected. It said the project would reduce the Kaveri water reaching it [6].

• Why this was not an issue in 1926

• In 1926, Sivasamudram was planned inside a single princely state, by its own Chief Electrical Engineer [1].

• Today the Kaveri is shared by several states. Any new dam or power station on it becomes a question of inter-state water sharing.

• Use in an answer

• For the stem on hydropower's "economic and environmental legacy", this is the link. The river that powered Mysore's modernisation is now at the centre of the Mekedatu dispute [2][6].

12. Anchors for Answers

• Data: Average rural power supply rose from 12.5 hours/day (2014-15) to 18.5 hours/day (2019-20), Ministry of Power [4]
• Data: About 53% of villages got less than 12 hours of household power a day (older PRS estimate) [7]
• Data: Sivasamudram power reached the Kolar Gold Fields, more than 100 miles away [2]
• Scheme: Saubhagya (2017) connected households, but rural enterprises still used diesel because grid supply was unreliable [5]
• Comparison: 1926 Mysore waited for new generating capacity before promising supply to towns [1]. Saubhagya counted connections first.

13. Mains Relevance

• GS-I: Modern Indian History, specifically princely states, colonial-era economic and infrastructure development, and regional modernisation.
• GS-III: Infrastructure (Energy); Inclusive growth (urban-rural gap in access).
• Possible question stems: 1. "Princely states such as Mysore were pioneers of infrastructure modernisation in colonial India." Critically examine, with reference to electrification. 2. 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? 3. Hydroelectricity shaped early industrialisation in South India. Discuss its economic and environmental legacy.

14. Related Topics to Study Next

• Modernisation of Mysore State (Diwans, Wodeyars): the administrative setting for this electrification.
• Kaveri river system and its hydro projects: where Sivasamudram is located; also linked to the inter-state water dispute.
• Kolar Gold Fields: the industrial demand that drove early Mysore hydropower.
• History of hydroelectricity in India: compare early plants such as Darjeeling and Sivasamudram (check dates in NCERT).
• Rural electrification schemes after Independence (DDUGJY, Saubhagya): the modern version of electrifying the "Mufassal".
• Princely states vs British India in development: compare Mysore, Travancore and Baroda.
• Renewable energy policy and the role of large and small hydro: links this history to current energy debates.

15. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• Hydroelectric power (Geography): Sivasamudram on the Kaveri was a hydroelectric station; the whole electrification plan rested on its added capacity.
• Princely states (Polity): Mysore was a princely state acting on its own, separate from British India, to modernise its towns.
• Infrastructure (Economy): Power supply is core infrastructure; the note contrasts colonial urban-focused facilities with extension to smaller towns.
• Kaveri river (Geography): Sivasamudram lies on the Kaveri, and Srirangapatna sits on it, so the river explains the power source.
• Inclusive growth (Economy): Extending electricity from the capital to provincial towns reflects the urban-rural access gap that inclusive growth tries to close.

16. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Mixing up place names: Yedatore is K.R. Nagar, not Yelandur. Seringapatam is Srirangapatna, not Srirangam in Tamil Nadu.
• Wrong authority: the 1926 action was by the Mysore (princely state) Government, not the Madras Presidency or the Government of India [1].
• Commissioning vs expansion: the 1926 item is about a new installation at Sivasamudram [1], not the station's original commissioning. Don't give 1926 as its founding year.
• Unverified "first in Asia" claims: non-whitelisted sources disagree on whether Sivasamudram or Bangalore was "Asia's first". Avoid absolute superlatives unless an NCERT or government source confirms them.
• "Mufassal" is not a place name. It means the hinterland in general.