The Chief Minister's Office of Rajasthan announced on Thursday, 9 July 2026 that the PM KUSUM Yojana is now delivering daytime electricity to farmers across 26 districts of the state, backed by more than 4 gigawatts of installed solar capacity.

Context

The post, shared by the official handle of the Chief Minister's Office and tagging Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, states: 'PM KUSUM Yojana ke madhyam se, 4 gigawatt se adhik saur kshamta se kisanon ko aaj pradesh ke 26 zilon mein, din mein bijli uplabdh karvayi ja rahi hai' — meaning, 'Through the PM KUSUM Yojana, more than 4 GW of solar capacity is today providing daytime electricity to farmers in 26 districts of the state.' The announcement is accompanied by the hashtag #AapnoAgraniRajasthan (Our Leading Rajasthan), a recurring campaign tag used by the state government to highlight development milestones.

Policy Backdrop

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) was launched by the Government of India in 2019 to reduce farmers' dependence on diesel-powered and grid-tied pumps by installing decentralised solar generation units. The scheme operates across three components: standalone solar pumps, solarisation of existing grid-connected pumps, and small solar power plants on barren or agricultural land. Rajasthan, with among the highest solar irradiance levels in the country, was identified early as a priority state for implementation. The state government under Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma has positioned PM KUSUM as a flagship rural welfare initiative, aligning it with both national renewable energy targets and the agricultural sector's need for reliable, affordable irrigation power.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries are farming communities across the 26 districts now covered under the scheme. Daytime solar power directly addresses one of agriculture's most persistent pain points in Rajasthan: erratic or night-only electricity supply for irrigation, which forces farmers to operate pumps in unsafe conditions and disrupts crop cycles. By shifting irrigation power to daylight hours through solar generation, the scheme also reduces the state's peak-hour grid load. Rural households in these districts stand to benefit indirectly from reduced pressure on the distribution network. The scale of more than 4 GW of solar capacity represents a substantial commitment of both central and state resources toward decentralised renewable energy in the agricultural sector.

What's Next

The government's framing of this announcement — emphasising current coverage of 26 out of Rajasthan's 33 districts — implies that expansion to the remaining districts remains a near-term objective. Progress on additional solar pump installations, the pace of district-wise coverage, and the state's overall targets under PM KUSUM will be closely tracked by both agricultural and energy policy observers. The scheme's performance in Rajasthan is also being watched as a model for other high-irradiance states seeking to replicate decentralised solar irrigation at scale.