Free electricity to farmers, Andhra Pradesh, 2015

• Free electricity to farmers is a subsidized free electricity scheme provided by the government of Andhra Pradesh, it is the dream concept of Late Chief Minister Dr. Y.S. Raja sekhara Reddy.
•  It provides 7 hours of power to the fields in a day. It has spent about 6000 crores in 2013.

Aim

• The seven-hour quality power supply would benefit farming sector consisting of around 15 lakhs agricultural pump sets in AP,
• AP has large agriculture consumption constituting around 24% of the total energy consumption of the State.

Measures

• The agriculture budget envisages second phase of debt redemption for farmers,with supply of free power to agriculture, soil health management, increased mechanization of farm sector, linking MGNEG Act with agriculture and support to different agri universities as ways to boost the farm sector among others.
• Asserting that the government is committed to provide seven hours of free power to agricultural sector, the minister proposed a budgetary allocation of Rs. 3,000 crores for power subsidy to the farmers.
• Due to dry spell and rising temperatures during the kharif season this year, the Andhra Pradesh government has made foolproof arrangements for providing assured seven hours quality power supply.
• As per the directions of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, a special mechanism has been adopted to see that not even a single acre crop withers due to short supply of power.
• Steps are taken to replace failed Distribution Transformers within stipulated time of 24 hours in rural areas.
• The government has also directed DISCOMs (Power Distribution Companies) to give main focus on providing assured power supply to all drinking water supply schemes to avoid any inconvenience to the public.
• State secretary for energy  Ajay Jain, said the government is keen on implementing energy efficiency activities even in agriculture sector where there is a potentiality of around 35 per cent savings of energy with effective Demand Side Management (DSM) measures.
• CM gave the proposal for implementation of second phase of Andhra Pradesh Rural High Voltage Distribution System (APRHVDS) project which will cover 46,727 pump sets in seven districts of AP with an estimated cost of around Rs 294 crore, to give top priority to agricultural sector in providing quality power supply irrespective of seasons.

Sources: EconomicTimes