Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan launch approved

Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan launch approved

Union Cabinet has approved the launch of KUSUM with the objective of providing financial and water security to farmers.

Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) was launched on 19 Feb with a central aid of Rs 34,422 crore to provide financial and water security to farmers through harnessing solar energy capacities of 25.75 giga watt (GW) by 2022.

Components of the Scheme

1. Component-A: 10,000 megawatt (MW) of decentralised ground mounted grid connected renewable power plants
2. Component-B: installation of 17.50 lakh standalone solar powered agriculture pumps
3. Component –C: solarisation of 10 lakh grid-connected solar powered agriculture pumps

Component-A and Component-C will be implemented on pilot mode for 1,000 MW capacity and one lakh grid-connected agriculture pumps, respectively, and thereafter, will be scaled up on success of the pilot run. Component-B will be implemented in full-fledged manner.

Benefits of KUSUM Scheme

1. The scheme will have substantial environmental impact in terms of savings of CO2 emissions.
2. All three components of the scheme combined together are likely to result in saving of about 27 million tonnes of CO2 emission per annum.
3. Further, Component-B of the scheme on standalone solar pumps may result in saving of 1.2 billion litres of diesel per annum and associated savings in the foreign exchange due to reduction of import of crude oil.
4. The scheme has direct employment potential. Besides increasing self-employment, the proposal is likely to generate employment opportunity equivalent to 6.31 lakh job years for skilled and unskilled workers.