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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Towards a kerosene-free India -Abhishek Jain

Towards a kerosene-free India -Abhishek Jain

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published Published on Oct 15, 2016   modified Modified on Oct 15, 2016
-The Hindu

With clean energy access a high priority for India, we must look beyond kerosene, ensuring alternatives

After the success of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)/cooking gas, the government has now decided to launch DBT for kerosene (DBTK), starting with pilots in the State of Jharkhand. While the move is well-intentioned, it may not be simple to implement at scale, and may even fail to eliminate the diversion of subsidised kerosene that it intends to.

The biggest hurdle is the lack of a streamlined and unified digital consumer database, which formed the backbone of the robust and rapid implementation of DBT for LPG. Here, the entire database across India was managed by just three public sector oil marketing companies, which are directly under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. This enabled easier coordination for a nationwide rollout of the scheme. In comparison, the database of subsidised kerosene beneficiaries falls under the Public Distribution System (PDS), which is managed and maintained by each State government. Coordination among the large number of State-level actors, especially in the case of a non-digitised PDS beneficiary database, can create barriers. While e-PDS is being implemented across India, a digital PDS beneficiary database is not yet available for all the States to enable implementation of DBTK.

The second hurdle is the political economy associated with subsidised kerosene. While the Centre burns the fiscal impact of subsidy, the States determine who gets the subsidy and to what extent — in terms of the quantum of subsidised kerosene. This is an important political currency for State governments. Thus, political alignment of States to buy into the idea of DBTK is critical in ensuring effective implementation of the scheme. The good news is that many States have expressed interest in conducting the pilot, which reflects the remarkable efforts made by the Centre towards aligning the States, including those governed by the Opposition.

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The Hindu, 13 October, 2016, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/towards-a-kerosenefree-india/article9212049.ece


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