Light has always been the first source in creation. According to Hindu mythology, for

example, before the birth of the cosmos, only the “brahman” or divine essence existed in

darkness. In order to create the universe, the brahman dispelled the darkness and then

proceeded in the act of creation. So the first act brought light to the universe. In fact, light is

considered a universal service obligation to be provided by governments, and this promise

was made by the state governments of India to their people in the 1960's. Cut to the 21

century and this need for light- like a fundamental right; it is still an aspiration for many

Indians. At least 12 states in India claim a 100% electrification of their villages. In the fine

print lies the truth. 100% electrification does NOT translate to a light in every house. Even if

there is an electrical connection in the house it does NOT translate into 24/7electricity.

India's power problems are acute and growing. In fact, come summer and most Indians can

only pray 'Let there be light'.

Power supply is a tinderbox issue. It has been caught in a vicious political cycle for years

across the country. Governments win elections with promises of free power to the electorate.

A majority of this free power is used by farmers to run pumps in order to access groundwater

for irrigation of crops. In fact, agriculture consumes close to 85% of a state's power supply.

This overuse by agriculture leaves very little power for domestic and industrial purposes

resulting in crippling power outages. Consider this: if most of the power is subsidised or free,

it is no wonder then, that many state electricity boards are bankrupt. Therefore, most

electricity boards have neither the funds nor the motivation to provide good quality power to

the farmers. The result: power supply is erratic, the quality of power is low, and the

expensive irrigation pump equipment often gets damaged.

Indian agriculture is the largest private sector enterprise in the country of over 110 million

farmers. It engages two-third of total workforce, contributes to 26 per cent of the GDP and

nearly one-sixth of the total export earnings. There is a great deal of concern that during

1990s the growth of agriculture has decelerated as compared to 1980s. A Planning

Commission study indicated that the overall growth rate of crop production declined from

3.72 per cent per

annum in 1980s to 2.29 per cent in 1990s. Similarly, productivity fell from 2.99 per cent per

annum to 1.2 per cent. The factors responsible for low productivity could largely be, research

breakthrough in restricted few crops, growing disparity between potential yields due to

improper technology transfer mechanism, low productivity from rainfed crops, low input use

and also low input use efficiency, lack of food processing and value addition to horticultural

and vegetable crops (2 per cent of total produce), high post-harvest losses especially in

horticultural produce (20-40 per cent), very low agricultural produce export (1 per cent of

global export); poor market infrastructure, untrained human resource in agriculture sector

especially

as entrepreneurs and skill workers.Farm growth has dived to a dismal from 2.9% to 2.5%

due toclimate change - erratic rainfall and lower yield per unit.Major crops such as wheat,

pulses and oil seeds showeddecline in outputFarm area with deficit rainfall increased by

40% from 28%during last 3 years and delayed irrigation projects have madematters worse.

So India has turbulent time for electricity sector and agriculture sector. These two sectors

are very important for any country to grow their GDP. It is prime requirement to address

these issues and one should take a leadership and inspired others to how to tackle

situations. Government of Gujarat (GoG) and erstwhile Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) has

shown such leadership by successfully implementing JoytigramYojana to other states.

Jyoti Gram yojana:

The power supply chain from power plant to point-of-use travels through stations,

transformers and wires. Traditionally, this transmission system is a SINGLE UNIT from

which power is fed to various sectors for agriculture, industry and domestic use. The Gujarat

Electricity Board (GEB) split the agriculture power supply chain from the domestic and

industrial power supply chain. In essence, it constructed a whole new parallel transmission

system to feed and monitor electricity to agriculture. As a result, the Government of Gujarat

began to: Intelligently ration power supply to farmers. For the first time in the country,

farmers in Gujarat received 8 hours of electricity of guaranteed voltage and timings, whereas

previously they received 13-14 hours of irregular and unreliable supply. Provide households

24/7 power through dedicated domestic feeders.

Gujarat saw light when the government recognized animbalance that went unnoticed. Most

governments are trapped in the power struggle; farmers hold them ransom for more power

and governments continue to pander to their needs. Everyone recognizes power is needed

for irrigation. And therefore they provide power irrigation. However, the Government of

Gujarat saw it a little differently. And this little difference began the journey towards a whole

new power game. Rather than power irrigation, it recast the situation as a power and

irrigation.

Never before had anyone consciously created this link- both power irrigation, as one. For the

first time, Jyotigram as a solution, would focus on the equation, power + irrigation for

reform.And a workable solution began to emerge. Within the power + irrigation equation, the

Government of Gujarat had one more realisation: free power without rationing did not

guarantee irrigation. The poor quality and the interrupted power created a bigger headache;

Every time there was an unscheduled power cut, the irrigation process went back to zero

and had to restart all over again. The farmer had no way of knowing when the power would

return, which means he wasted much of his time anxiously waiting for the power to come on.

And poor quality electricity resulted in damage of expensive equipment. So whereas in

theory he was getting unlimited power supply, in reality this power supply was of little help to

him in irrigation. From the above scenario, a promise to the farmers was born- 8 hours

uninterrupted, 440 volts, and pre-announced power supply. The benefit for farmers:

uninterrupted power supply, allowed for water to be drawn and fed with maximum force to

crops, without a cease in water flow. 440 volts is the quality of electricity required to run

pumps, so farmers did not have to contend with damage to equipment. And a pre-

announced 8 hour schedule allowed for farmers to plan their work without wasting time

praying for the electricity to come. The farmers protested at first, especially as the project

rolled out. After all, nobody likes the thought of rationing what was unlimited or paying for

what was free. But when they saw the actual benefit on ground, their protests turned

topraise andacceptance. And so, with intelligent rationing, there waselectricity for farmers

and light for all.

Inspired Leadership:

Inspired leadership is about living 5 pillars of mindfulness, compassion, ethics, sustainability

and diversity. Government of Gujarat has adopted all these virtues and set example of

inspired leadership.

Mindfulness: JyotigramYojana is all about future of farmers. Government of Gujarat didn’t think about

what they couldn’t do in past or roadblocks they would face. GoG came with very simple and

out of box thinking solution.

Compassion:Inclusive growth is a strong pillar for any economy to sustain its development in long run.

GoG took leap frog and target eroding sector of economy i.e. agriculture. GoG planned to

improve living condition of rural people and provided level playing field to them.

Ethics:In past government has been always criticised for huge corruption and scenario is not

changed till date. If any project taken by government is seen as an easy route for grabbing

people’s money by politicians. GoG has successfully implemented 1100 Crore project in time

period of only 30 months. Results of huge amount expensed behind project can be seen by

its impact on various parts of society and economy.

Sustainability:JyotigramYojana is solution for inclusive development for agriculture and domestic sector. It

provides boost up to agriculture and helps to be self-sufficient in providng food to state and

country. Jyotigram is not about temporary solution, parallel transmission lines and separate

feeders are long term solution for conflicting demands between industries and agriculture.

Diversity:Each and every part of society is important for any society to be flourished. One has to take

care of all parts of society. Jyotigram is a such diverse solution which connects all corners of

Gujarat from Kutch to Valsad.

Impact on people:As a result of the dedicated domestic feeders, Gujarat is the first state with 100%domestic

electrification, 24 hours a day, 365 days a week. It means that computers can run, students

can study late into the night, people have alternatives for entertainment, small scale

Inspired Leadership

Mindfulness

Compassion

EthicsSustainability

Diversity

industries can flourish. It means there is light. On demand. All the time. In fact, this has

completely changed expectations of the people of Gujarat. Whereas in the rest of the

country, people are resigned to power cuts for long durations, not so in Gujarat.

Impact on Agriculture:Contrary to the belief that restriction on electricity would restrict agriculture, the agricultural output of Gujarat has gone up, and Jyotigram is a key driver. The 10 plan predicted a growth rate of 4.0 %; instead Gujarat grew at 9.6%, the highest in the country and way above the average of 2.9%.

Impact on state Electricity Board:

Investing Rs.1115 crores upfront in infrastructure development in the form of a parallel transmission system, takes both courage and a peculiar ability to predict the future: that themoney will be made back in a given period of time.And how well that prediction has worked for Jyotigram. As a result of the separate feeders designed to restrict power with a switch over for domestic purposes only, power theft came down significantly. On the other hand, 95% of the households (out of 8 districts surveyed by IRMA) noted an increase in electricity expense. Consumers also ended up buying more electric gadgets. Therefore the entire Rs.1115 crores was made back in 2.5 years. So it is not just the supply side of power and irrigation equation that was balanced. The electricity board benefited with never before revenues, as well. Once bankrupt, it was revitalized, as revenue collection increased from 850 crores in 2004-05 to 1231 crores in 2007-08 to 1473 crores in 2008-09. Today, the Gujarat Electricity Board sits on a happy surplus of 126 crores. Lessons in sick industry revival anyone?And all this without a single increase in electricity tariffs for 7 years.

Impact on groundwater:Gujarat is the only state in India to have turned groundwater positive in recent years. This is a significant achievement given that Gujarat is known to be a drought prone state with 70% of its geographical area classified as semi-arid and arid land types.

Source: ‘Secret of Gujarat's Agrarian Miracle after 2000',Tushaaret. al. Economic & Political Weekly, December 26th 2009.

The benefits are plenty. A study by CII and by IRMA has revealed:

Drop out of girl children reduced by 80%. School absenteeism reduced by 13%. Average duration of study for girl and boy at home has gone up by 92% and 81%

respectively. Decrease in migration from the rural areas by 33%. Increase in time spent of rural women on:

o Entertainment by 88%o Social activities by 43%o Income generating activities by 18% o Time spent on performing household chores reduced by 26%.o Education by 90%

Enabled 53% of families in rural areas to work during night times. Increased momentum in industrial activities such as diamond polishing, toiletries, agro processing, etc. Improved load management resulting in no load shedding in the state.

Power of Youth:

Whenever we talk about youth first image comes in our mind of urban youth who has highly

equipped with all facilities and who is tech savy of 21st century. But still there is large chunk

of youth is residing in rural area of country and they are aloof from all technological

innovations take place in world. JyotigramYojana has channelize its energy in upcoming

youth by providing 24x7 power supply. With unintrupted power supply youth of rural can

spend their maximum time on internet and they can connect with other parts of country and

world. Because of Jyotigram it is possible to supply power at night and youth can study till

night once they come from their work. So it is very important to develop less advantage

youth and to make them powerful. This hidden power of youth (youth of rural) will take

country to other horizon of development.

Source:

Government of Gujarat: JyotigramYojana byDevikaDevaiah, Erehwon Innovation Consulting

Indian Agriculture Scenario by Ashish wele, Nirmal seeds India

Innovative electricity scheme sparks rural development in India’s Gujarat State by International Water management Institute

Indian Express article on JyotiGramYojanadtd 28th Aug, 2012

Indian Agricultural Development in Changing Scenario Past, Present and Future by Panjab SinghIndira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi

School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL) ‘s write-up