<p>The country has achieved the target of electrifying its villages 12 days ahead of a deadline set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government said on Sunday, which could give the ruling party a boost ahead of a general election in 2019.</p>.<p><br />Asia's third-largest economy has been held back for years by a power shortage, with industries having to cope with blackouts and hospitals forced to rely on diesel-run generators for backup.</p>.<p><br />But PM Modi said on Sunday that April 28, on the evening of which a remote village in the northeast became the last to be connected to the grid, would be remembered as a "historic day in the development journey of India".</p>.<p><br />"Yesterday, we fulfilled a commitment due to which the lives of several Indians will be transformed forever!" Modi wrote on Twitter, as various ministers in his government took to social media to congratulate him.</p>.<p><br />Government data showed that all of India's 597,464 census villages have now been electrified. When Modi took office in 2014, there were some 18,452 villages without electricity.<br />But just because all villages are connected to the grid does not mean all Indians have access to power.</p>.<p><br />The government considers a village electrified if it has basic electrical infrastructure and 10 percent of its households and public places including schools, local administrative offices and health centres have power.</p>.<p><br />Some people, however, said on Twitter their villages had yet to be electrified despite the government's claim.</p>.<p><br />"No. Not every village yet," said Twitter user Dilip Gupta, identifying his village in a district of Uttar Pradesh in the north. "Over the course of years my native place has been expecting electricity every year, but it hasn't arrived yet."</p>.<p><br />The World Bank said in a report last year that globally 1.06 billion people had no electricity, with India and Nigeria topping the list of most power-deficient countries.</p>
<p>The country has achieved the target of electrifying its villages 12 days ahead of a deadline set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government said on Sunday, which could give the ruling party a boost ahead of a general election in 2019.</p>.<p><br />Asia's third-largest economy has been held back for years by a power shortage, with industries having to cope with blackouts and hospitals forced to rely on diesel-run generators for backup.</p>.<p><br />But PM Modi said on Sunday that April 28, on the evening of which a remote village in the northeast became the last to be connected to the grid, would be remembered as a "historic day in the development journey of India".</p>.<p><br />"Yesterday, we fulfilled a commitment due to which the lives of several Indians will be transformed forever!" Modi wrote on Twitter, as various ministers in his government took to social media to congratulate him.</p>.<p><br />Government data showed that all of India's 597,464 census villages have now been electrified. When Modi took office in 2014, there were some 18,452 villages without electricity.<br />But just because all villages are connected to the grid does not mean all Indians have access to power.</p>.<p><br />The government considers a village electrified if it has basic electrical infrastructure and 10 percent of its households and public places including schools, local administrative offices and health centres have power.</p>.<p><br />Some people, however, said on Twitter their villages had yet to be electrified despite the government's claim.</p>.<p><br />"No. Not every village yet," said Twitter user Dilip Gupta, identifying his village in a district of Uttar Pradesh in the north. "Over the course of years my native place has been expecting electricity every year, but it hasn't arrived yet."</p>.<p><br />The World Bank said in a report last year that globally 1.06 billion people had no electricity, with India and Nigeria topping the list of most power-deficient countries.</p>