Only 16.4 per cent of Bihar's 1.89 crore families or households have the luxury to light up their residences with electricity, the remaining, nearly 83.6 per cent families are forced to live without electricity, a household amenities and assets in Bihar report released by the Census of India has said.
According to the report, in Bihar, kerosene is the main source of lighting for 82.4 per cent of its 10.5 crore population. It is a fact that particularly poor people who constitute nearly half the population in Bihar, have been purchasing kerosene in black.
"We are purchasing kerosene at Rs 40 or 45 per litre," Dukhan Paswan, a daily wage labourer, who hails from a village in Arwal district said.
Paswan's story is a real one. Even in Patna, only 57.1 per cent families have the facility to use electricity. But the neighbouring Arwal district is poorly placed, with only 1.9 per cent families are lucky to use electricity.
Ironically, Arwal is a Maoist-affected district and the State, as well as the Central government claimed to have launched several development schemes in such districts to minimise rebel influence.
But on the ground, Arwal is in the last century if electricity is anything to go by. The report said that electricity as the source of lighting has increased by just 6 per cent since the 2001 census.
It is the only positive thing about electricity in Bihar in last one decade. It is regularly reported in local Hindi dailies that large parts of the state go without electricity for days, thanks to the massive power shortage Bihar faces.
People in urban, as well as in rural areas, regularly clean lanterns and purchase costly kerosene oil from the black market to light up their homes.
During the summer, the power shortage used to sparked protests in the state. Angry people would take to streets, block roads for hours, burn rubber tyres and would force shutdown of markets and electricity offices.
