India, May 12 -- By Ravikant Mishra,

Member, Economic Advisory Group, Government of Uttar Pradesh

Less than a decade ago, prolonged blackouts were among the defining features of life in Uttar Pradesh. Frequent power cuts affected not only villages, but also major cities and industrial centres such as Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Noida and Ghaziabad. Industries relied heavily on diesel generators, farmers struggled with erratic electricity for irrigation, and unreliable supply remained a major constraint on economic growth.

Today, the picture is markedly different.

Uttar Pradesh is now meeting record peak electricity demand of nearly 32,000 MW while providing near round-the-clock power supply across urban centres and significantly improv...