The concept of integrated energy systems gained popularity and institutional and socio-administrative aspects in rural renewable energy programmes were highlighted. Today, India has one of the largest rural and renewable energy programme in the world. However, the magnitude and gravity of the problem require action on a larger scale. Though the NPBD and the NPIC are touted as the largest programmes in terms of investment and scale, they would take more than five decades to fulfil the entire potential in the country. Even where the programmes have been implemented, the impact has been limited, bringing only negligible improvement in the energy options available to the rural masses.
Children still study in the poor light of a kerosene lamp.
The village economy continues to suffer as power supply is neither adequate nor reliable. More alarmingly, the lot of the rural folk does not seem to have prospects for getting any better in the future, with projections indicating an increase in reliance on traditional fuels. Much analysis has been done on why the rural energy problem stays unabated despite the vast amounts of resources invested. In most cases, the answers lie with the people who, unfortunately, have not been made part of programme planning and implementation. Though decentralized planning was encouraged through programmes such as Urjagram and the Integrated Rural Energy Programme, they could not become workable models largely because they did not envisage any role for the local communities.