Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will launch the new 'Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana' on April 4, aimed at providing electricity to rural areas.
The programme is in line with the United Progressive Alliance government's National Common Minimum Programme, which envisages providing electricity to all.
As per the scheme, rural electricity infrastructure will be set up and household electrification will be completed in the next five years, an official release said.
About 56 per cent of rural households and more than one lakh villages still do not have access to electricity. The NCMP has set a goal of completing rural electrification in five years, it said.
The PM will launch the new scheme in a nation-wide function, the release said.
Congress president and National Advisory Council chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Power Minister P M Sayeed will also take part in the function.
Chief Ministers of 12 states - Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and West Bengal - and Bihar Governor Buta Singh will participate in the programme through video-conferencing, the release added.
