New Delhi, September 21, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Jyotigram Yojana, launched during Narendra Modi’s tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister, drew the attention and praise of former President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for its rapid expansion of electricity access across villages, according to a story shared by Modi Story on X.
The initiative, which focused on large-scale rural electrification in Gujarat, laid the foundation for a broader transformation in electricity access that continued after Modi became Prime Minister in 2014.
According to Modi Story, the Jyotigram Yojana completed the electrification of more than 18,000 villages in Gujarat in a record 1,000 days. The programme involved laying 1 lakh km of electricity lines and installing around 20 lakh electric poles.
The scale of the project attracted the attention of then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who travelled to Gujarat to see the transformation firsthand and later dedicated the scheme to the nation.
Saurabh Patel, a former Gujarat Cabinet Minister, recalled in a Modi Story video that Kalam was keen to visit villages where the electrification work had been completed.
“Dr Kalam couldn’t believe it; he asked if he could visit them,” Patel said, according to the video. He added that the then Chief Minister readily agreed and arranged Kalam’s visit to remote villages.
Patel said Kalam was overwhelmed after seeing the changes on the ground and witnessing the scale of electrification achieved in a short period.
The rural electrification drive later continued at the national level under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), launched by the Modi government in 2014 to strengthen electricity distribution systems.
An official report cited in the source said 18,374 villages were electrified under DDUGJY, while 2.86 crore households were electrified under the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya).
The source said the two national schemes, along with the earlier Gujarat experience, contributed to the wider effort to provide electricity access to villages and hamlets across the country.
The electrification drive is being highlighted as part of the BJP’s “25 years of Seva” narrative around Modi’s public life and leadership, with the Gujarat experience presented as an early example of the grassroots transformation associated with his tenure.
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