Centre for dedicated power feeders for farm but not all states on board

The issue had so far not been pushed with much enthusiasm, for reasons ranging from it being more capital-intensive, to power supply for farms being mostly free or subsidised

The Union government’s approval for solar-powered agriculture pumps last week is just a small part of its programme to provide power for agriculture. While the Centre’s emphasis was on household electrification, power for agriculture had so far not been pushed with much enthusiasm. 

The reasons range from it being more capital-intensive to power supply for agriculture being mostly free or subsidised. The Rural Electrification Corporation was set up in 1969 as a response to the “pressing exigencies” of severe drought by reducing the dependence of agriculture on monsoons, and instead “energising agricultural pump-sets for optimised irrigation”. 

The emphasis, however, has only been