Floodlights that once flickered out by twilight are now bright enough to let the Agra District Women’s League chase targets till almost midnight. The fresh surge of power feeding Kachlibagh and seven other rural grounds has done more than extend match hours — it has turned cricket into a magnet for jobs, small businesses, and community celebration across Agra’s hinterland.
Hook & Context
It’s 8:45 p.m. at Kachlibagh ground on the outskirts of the Fatehabad block. A tug on the generator cord is no longer part of the pre-match ritual — power surges through a new 33/11 kV feeder, and rows of LED floodlights snap on, turning the dusty strip into a stage of crisp shadows. Radha Madhav Cricket Club is chasing 142; the live scoreboard on the CricHeroes app flashes every ball, and families settle onto charpoys that line the rope boundary.
Just two seasons ago, the Agra District Women League packed up by dusk. Since rural supply rose to an average of 18 hours a day across Uttar Pradesh in 2025 — part of the state’s push to compensate daytime outages with extra evening wattage — organisers can schedule double-headers that finish well after moonrise. Coach Meena Sharma jokes that the “best slog-overs now start after the stars come out,” but she credits the steady current for a more serious payoff: safer journeys home for players who commute from villages like Dhanoli and Kiraoli.
Rural Electrification in Uttar Pradesh
Three national programs have driven the lights now shining on the League:
- Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY, 2014-ongoing) — financed new rural feeders, transformers, and substations; it also split agricultural and domestic lines, so evening household demand no longer drags practice sessions into darkness.
- Pradhan Mantri Saubhagya Yojana (2017-2022) — focused on last-mile connections. Uttar Pradesh reported over 1.18 crore new household links under Saubhagya; nationwide, the tally reached 2.86 crore before closure in March 2022. Agra district rode that wave — league volunteers say every squad now draws at least one player whose family received power for the first time during the drive.
- Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS, 2021-2026) – funds smart meters and feeder upgrades. DVVNL tenders issued in 2024-25 indicate a surge in replacing damaged lines and transformers across Agra, including the Etmadpur and Fatehabad divisions — areas that host league training hubs.
Quick snapshot
| Programme | Launched | What has changed for Agra’s women cricketers |
| DDUGJY | 2014 | Reliable 11 kV feeder now powers Kachlibagh ground; practice can start at 6 a.m. and resume after sunset |
| Saubhagya | 2017 | Household electrification is above 99 %; more homes own TVs, boosting local viewership of the league |
| RDSS | 2021 | Smart meters flag outages in real time, letting organisers reschedule nets without guesswork |
Together, these upgrades propelled rural electrification in India to near-universal levels by 2018 and extended household coverage through 2024. For the Agra District Women’s League, the payoff is immediate: longer fixtures, broadcast-ready grounds, and a growing fan base that can follow every over from a lit courtyard or the stands.
Beyond the Boundary: Social & Economic Ripple Effects
Steady evening supply has sparked a wave of women-led livelihoods around every fixture: tailors stitch jerseys in Achhnera, e-rickshaw drivers queue for the late-night shuttle run, and Self-Help Groups (SHGs) rotate stalls that sell everything from millet laddus to bamboo water bottles. A survey by league organisers counted 46 paid roles created per match — half of them filled by women — ranging from scorers to livestream commentators.
Match day now feels like a mini-mela. Crowds average 450–600 and peak on Sunday double-headers, pulling in family vendors who hook up electric kettles for masala chai. Uttar Pradesh’s push to give SHGs retail space at public events — including new pilot stalls for women in Prayagraj last week — is mirrored here: the district sports office allocates ten booth spots each fixture, and applications outnumber slots two-to-one. SHG earnings feed back into savings circles, a pattern highlighted in a 2024 study on SHGs in Agra district, which tracked higher household income and sharper financial literacy among women members.
Snapshot of match-day micro-enterprise
| Micro-enterprise | Run by | Avg. match-day revenue (₹) | Power use |
| Tea & snacks cart | Mother-daughter SHG, Dhandhupura | 3 500 | Electric kettles, LED bulbs |
| Custom jersey printer | Youth print shop, Achhnera | 6 800 | Vinyl cutter, heat-press |
| Face-paint & LED tika booth | Two college sisters | 1 200 | Portable ring light |
| E-rickshaw shuttle | Five women drivers (SHG) | 4 400 | Battery swap station |
Local pride has followed the money. School attendance spikes the morning after a televised upset, and watch parties spill onto rooftops where new Saubhagya meters glow green. Online, the CricHeroes feed for the league recorded a 34% increase in unique viewers between January and June 2025, indicating that the buzz now extends well beyond the boundary. The message is clear: when the lights stay on, opportunity bats deep into the order.
The extra lumens powering Agra’s village grounds illuminate far more than the pitch — they brighten household incomes, showcase women’s enterprise, and pull entire communities into the game. Keep the current flowing, and the League will keep returning dividends that outlast every final over.