Context

Electricity and development sectors need a more integrated approach to achieve the vision set forth in instruments such as the Union Budget that guide policy implementation at other administrative levels.

Reduction in allocation

• While the health sector witnessed a 16% increase in estimated Budget allocations from last year, medical and public health spending was reduced by 45% for 2022-23.
• Budget estimates demonstrate intent, but the proof of the pudding lies in the actual expenditure which reiterates the need for greater attention to be paid to our health and education sectors.
•  While the health sector was allocated ₹74,602 crore in 2021-22, the Government exceeded its spending by over ₹5,000 crore more (₹80,026 crore) on health, signalling a spike in demand, likely propelled by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
• Given this scenario, a less than ₹1,000 crore increase in the Budget Estimate (₹86,606 crore) in 2022-23 when compared with last year’s Revised Estimates (₹85,915 crore) appears incongruent with the Government’s aim of providing quality public health care at scale.

Role of reliable energy

• It is widely recognised that the availability of reliable electricity supply can improve the delivery of health and education services.
•  74% of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals are interlinked with universal access to reliable energy.
•  Its reliability in terms of the number of hours that electricity is available steadily without any voltage fluctuations also plays a significant role in delivering services.
•  Sometimes, multiple policies can complement each other to achieve the larger sectoral objectives.
• For example, in Assam, the Energy Vision document that lays out the electricity and development outcomes is to be applied in tandem with the Solar Energy Policy 2017 that operationalises this vision via an action plan.

Reasons for lack of integration of electrification in the development sector

• The lack of integration of electrification requirements in development sector policy documents may be partly due to lack of information about electricity and development linkages, poor coordination mechanisms between the sectors and departments, and poor access to appropriate finance.
• Even while electricity is considered, it is to the limited extent of being a one-time civil infrastructure activity rather than a continuous feature necessary for the day-to-day operations of these services.

Way forward

•  To successfully integrate electricity provisioning and maintenance, policy frameworks should include innovative coordination and financing mechanisms.
• These mechanisms, while developing clear compliance mandates, must also allow sufficient room for flexibility to respond to local contexts.
• Providing reliable electricity for health centres and schools should be the responsibility of centralised decision-making entities at the State or national level.
• As India has witnessed with other cross-sectoral and centralised statistical, planning, and implementation data governance, diverse contexts must support oversight mechanisms that ensure data credibility.
• Finance is largely unavailable to ensure reliable electricity supply to schools and health facilities.
• Some directives, such as those governing the use of untied funds, need to be more flexible in allowing these facilities to prioritise providing reliable and sustainable electricity.

Conclusion

A successful policy outcome might be dependent on several invisible aspects that do not get the attention and funding necessary to aid in successful policy delivery. Electricity is one of them.

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