Promoting Clean and Affordable Cooking

The health effects of cooking with biomass and coal are now well-recognised. Although more people use LPG, the number of those using biomass and coal has remained static for nearly 30 years. While LPG subsidies have played an important role in expanding access to this cooking fuel, directing the subsidies to the poorest and the most vulnerable remains a fraught matter. This article proposes that consumers opt in for the subsidy by self-certifying that their household income is less than an amount set by the government, instead of the opt-out approach followed today.