Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan Scheme Awaits Approval

As per the information was given by Minister of State for Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Parshottam Rupala in Lok Sabha today,‘Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Maha Abhiyan (KUSUM) scheme is currently under the process of seeking approval. 

In order to promote the use of solar energy in the country especially villages, the government was all set to launch Rs 1.4 crore KUSUM scheme by July 2018.

R K Singh, minister of power and new & renewable energy said that the farmers would be provided with solar water pumps under the scheme,” minister of power and new & renewable energy. Minister stated briefing on government's achievements that crores of families targeted under the SAUBHAGYA scheme would get electricity connections ahead of the March 2019 deadline. 

Facilities under Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan 
Mahabhiyan (KUSUM): 

1. Installation of standalone off-grid solar water pumps to fulfill irrigation needs of farmers not connected to grid; 

2. Solarisation of existing grid-connected agriculture pumps to make farmers independent of grid 

3. Installation of grid-connected solar power plants each of capacity up to 2 MW in the rural areas; 

4. Installation of standalone off-grid solar water pumps to fulfil irrigation needs of farmers not connected to the grid; 

5. Solarisation of existing grid-connected agriculture pumps to make farmers independent of grid supply and also enable them to sell surplus solar power generated to DISCOM and get extra income; and 

6. Solarisation of tube-wells and lift irrigation projects of the Government sector. 

Planning and implementation 

The government has planned to provide 27.5 lakh solar pumps (17.50 lakh standalone + 10 Lakh Grid-connected) under the scheme. It will help farmers install total 10 GW of Solar Power Plants of the intermediate capacity of 0.5 to 2 MW each. It also envisages  50,000 Grid-connected tube-wells/lift irrigation and drinking water projects. Singh also gave assurance about bringing the hydropower policy and expressed hope to roll out the Rs 16,000 crore plan for beleaguered hydropower capacities in the country. 

Last four year achievements 

On the achievements of his government, PTI reported RK Singh said: “Last four years have been path-breaking. You compare it with what happened in the last 48 years. I asked my ministries to compare the 48 years and our 4 years. The comparison was an eye opener.” He also said: “In the 48 years before 2014, the pace of capacity addition in a generation was about 4,800 MW per year. In our 48 months, the pace of capacity addition was about 24000 MW per year. That is 4.8 times more. We added one lakh MW of generation capacity in four years.”