❖ The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued the operational guidelines for implementing the model solar village under the ‘PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana’.

❖ Under the scheme component ‘Model Solar Village,’ emphasis has been made on creating one model solar village per district across India.

❖ A total financial outlay of ₹800 crore has been allocated for this component.

❖ It is providing ₹1 crore per selected model solar village.

❖ In order to be considered a village under the competition mode, a village must be a revenue village with a population size above 5,000 (or 2,000 for special category States).

❖ The winning village in each district, with the highest RE capacity, will receive a central financial assistance grant of ₹1 crore.

❖ The Government of India has approved the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana on February 29, 2024.

❖ It aims to increase the share of solar rooftop capacity and empower residential households to generate their own electricity.

❖ The scheme has an outlay of ₹75,021 crore and is to be implemented till FY27.