Depending on whom one asks, one gets vastly divergent answers. As one should because it is so vast. Here are some starting numbers:
* 30 States plus 6 Union Territories.
* Roughly 1 million Localities, of whom maybe 30 percent are urban.
* 700 million-plus rural residents.
* The average village apparently has about 1000 residents, so there are about 700,000 villages. A number that I have seen is 660,000. I don't think number of villages is increasing, if anything there may be consolidation, along with emptying/abandonment of some villages for instance in Andhra/ Telangana (per my sources).
* Average household in India has 4.3 residents. So there are roughly 250 million homes in India.
I am interested in testing the following hypotheses against anecodtal/ authoritative evidence, and in questioning the "authoritative" superstitions:
H1: All Indian villages have electric grid connection today.
H2: 40 million out of 250 million homes did not have power at the start of 2017 (source: PM Modi)
H3: All 250 million households have received connections as of end of 2017.
H4: Statistical surveys conducted by GOI/ agencies content themselves with obtaining large sample sizes (anyone can achieve large sample size in India) to claim 3rd-decimal accuracy, while literally missing the forest.
H5: Corollary to H4: Those who do not have access to power are not counted among those who do not have access to power.
H6: A large percentage (like 30? 50?) of villages with power connections, have little to no power flowing through.
H7: India has become/ will become within 2 years, a power-surplus nation (source: GOI)
H8: All Indian households will have natural-gas cooking (unless they have electric) by end of 2019.
H8(b) There is a Tooth Fairy.
H9: Most urban Indians know/care as much about any of the above, as the propaganda about Marie Antoinette claimed about her knowledge of French peasants.
Some articles:
Negative:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 776273.cms
Hyper-positive:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/o ... 287138.ece
All 39,073 villages of Bihar were now electrified, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said in Patna on Wednesday. He added that every household in the state would have a free power connection by the end of the next calendar year. The efforts in this regard were a part of Mr. Kumar’s seven resolves (“saat nischay”) of good governance. “We have come a long way since 2005 when we assumed power. Back then, small towns and villages had given up all hopes of getting power and even in the state capital, Patna, the electricity situation had left much to be desired,” Mr. Kumar said.