I think the main issue here is that many people in India are not registered as electricity consuming households, yet enjoy electricity connection by stealing electricity via an illegal connection.
I have been to some slums as well, where they literally steal en masse, by directly connecting their own wires to poles.
That is why such figures are misleading.
Yet, I would whole heartedly agree that electricity consumption isn't anywhere near as ample as it should be.
It is good for major cities. For example, in Mumbai, there is no electricity shortage.
But in my hometown, when I was growing up, there used to be around 4 hours of "loadshedding." in summers. This were preassigned hours, when there would be no electricity.
These days, in my hometown, the loadshedding hours have reduced to between 1 and 2.
I frankly don't know much about the villages.
But in cities itself, most of the poor households, just steal electricity, by directly connecting a wire to the nearest electricity pole.
@Chinese Bamboo @Shotgunner51
The figures used by Washington Post are
factually incorrect in particular with referance to Pakistan. I have driven to remote mountain valleys in Pakistan and even tiny hamlets have electricity so I was surprised to see that Pak according to WP figures has
32% without electricty which is utter
rubbish. If it did Pakistan would be behind India. However a quick check with World Bank reveals that Pakistan has
ONLY 6%, yes just
6% without electricity with "
Shining progress
India" at 22% without electricty which is similar to what Washington quotes. Of course American media have now gone from lambasting Pakistan to now spreading outright lies as evidenced by the misleading figure they quoted in their graphs. You would thing Washington Post would get their figures correct.
Access to electricity (% of population) | Data | Table
Pak >
93.6%
India > 78.7%
And I don't trust your figures for a moment. It is a fact that Pakistan faces a severe energy crisis, where even your industries are coming to a stand still.
Just look at energy consumption and production figures from official sources. As I say, these figures can't be trusted because it is in doubt how they define, "household without electricity."
For energy theft in India, you should see this video.