Government Schemes and Initiatives for Clean Cooking and Biogas in India

Clean cooking energy and biogas initiatives in India address indoor air pollution, reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels, and promote rural waste management. The Government of India implements several targeted programs across ministries to replace traditional solid biomass fuels with liquefied petroleum gas, piped natural gas, electricity, and bio-compressed natural gas.

Key Clean Cooking Fuel Initiatives

Targeted welfare schemes expand access to modern cooking fuels across rural and economically disadvantaged households.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

• Launched in May 2016 from Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
• Provides deposit-free Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) connections to adult women from below poverty line (BPL) households.
• Provides financial support of ₹1,600 per connection covering cylinder security deposit, pressure regulator, hose pipe, domestic gas consumer card, and installation charges.
• Expanded through Ujjwala 2.0 launched in August 2021 from Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh, offering a first refill and hotplate free of cost to migrant families via self-declarations.
• Beneficiaries receive a targeted subsidy under the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (PAHAL / DBTL) scheme transferred directly into Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.

PAHAL (Pratyaksh Hanstit Labh) Scheme

• Introduced nationally in January 2015 to eliminate commercial diversion and duplicate connections in domestic LPG distribution.
• Requires consumers to link their Aadhaar number with domestic gas consumer numbers and primary bank accounts.
• Recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest direct cash transfer program in the world.

GiveItUp Campaign

• Launched in March 2015 to encourage affluent households to voluntarily surrender their LPG subsidies.
• Diverts saved subsidy expenditure toward funding new domestic gas connections for poor households in rural districts.

Major Biogas and Bio-CNG Schemes

Biogas initiatives convert animal dung, crop residue, and urban organic waste into combustible gas and organic fertilizers.

Financial and Market Support Mechanisms for Biogas

• Central Financial Assistance (CFA): The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy provides capital subsidies ranging from ₹9,800 to ₹14,350 for small family-type biogas plants, with higher rates for North Eastern states and island territories.
• CBG Inclusion in City Gas Distribution (CGD): Phased mandatory blending of Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for transport and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) for domestic consumption.
• Fermented Organic Manure (FOM) Support: The Market Development Assistance (MDA) scheme provides ₹1,500 per metric tonne on the sale of fermented organic manure produced as a byproduct in CBG plants.
• Priority Sector Lending (PSL): The Reserve Bank of India includes commercial biogas plants and compressed bio-gas units under priority sector lending categories for institutional loans up to ₹30 crore.

Technical Models and Inputs in Indian Biogas Plants

Biogas production in rural India relies on anaerobic digestion of organic feedstocks using standardized digester designs.

Feedstock Composition and Yield

• Cattle dung (gobar) serves as the base substrate, producing an average of 0.04 cubic meters of biogas per kilogram of fresh wet dung.
• Anaerobic digestion produces gas composed of 55% to 65% Methane (CH₄), 35% to 45% Carbon Dioxide (CO₂), and trace amounts of Hydrogen Sulfide (H_2S) and moisture.
• Purified CBG upgrades biogas to over 90% methane purity, matching the calorific value and commercial specifications of commercial natural gas (IS 16087:2016).

Common Digester Designs Approved by MNRE

• KVIC Model: Floating gas-holder type digester constructed with a brick masonry well and a mild steel or fiber-reinforced plastic drum.
• Janata Model: Fixed-dome digester made entirely of brick masonry, utilizing displacement of slurry into inlet and outlet tanks to create gas pressure.
• Deenabandhu Model: Fixed-dome design built with brick masonry in a spherical shape, lowering material costs compared to the Janata model.
• Prefabricated / Bag Digesters: Portable, factory-manufactured flexible membrane digesters made from reinforced PVC or high-density polyethylene.

Important Facts

• The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas launched the Unified GOBARdhan Portal to serve as a single-window clearance and registration system for all biogas and CBG projects.
• Bio-CNG has a calorific value of approximately 52,000 kJ/kg, equivalent to commercially marketed Compressed Natural Gas.
• The PAHAL scheme operates under the modified Direct Benefit Transfer (DBTL) framework to eliminate ghost connections.
• The National Bioenergy Programme operates with two phases approved through the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
• Solid biomass combustion inside kitchens causes severe household air pollution through fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), carbon monoxide, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
• The Deenabandhu biogas model was developed in 1984 by the Action for Food Production (AFPRO) organization to reduce the cost of building domestic fixed-dome units.
• The Bureau of Indian Standards issued standard IS 16087:2016 to govern technical specifications for Compressed Bio-Gas injected into natural gas grids.
• The SATAT initiative stands for “Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation.”
• Commercial bio-CNG production generates solid and liquid Fermented Organic Manure (FOM), which serves as an organic soil conditioner under the Fertilizer (Inorganic, Organic or Mixed) Control Order (FCO).
• The Ministry of Power introduced the “National Mission on use of Biomass in Coal Based Thermal Power Plants” (SAMARTH) to mandate biomass pellet co-firing alongside coal.