On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a union government plan to provide roof top solar for one crore households. The Pradhan Mantri Suryodaya Yojana seeks to address the electricity needs of households and provide an extra source of revenue by evacuating surplus power to the grid. A few weeks ago, PM Modi had visited the home of the 10th crore beneficiary of Ujjwala.
Together they put the spotlight on the union government’s efforts to provide basics through its social welfare spending. Data suggests that indeed millions have gained access to electricity, drinking water, cooking gas and so on.
What this has also done is to bring over 500 million people inside the formal economy. In turn, this socio-economic transformation is redefining the way they engage with the rest of India. Effectively this is rewiring India.
To understand the implications of the new political economy of India I spoke to Diva Jain. A policy analyst and keen watcher of the Indian economy.
