From smoke to solar: How rural India is leaving Kerosene behind

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16 hours ago

A quiet revolution has unfolded in the remote villages of India, where darkness once descended early, and kitchens were choked with kerosene smoke. For decades, kerosene was a staple fuel used for cooking and lighting in rural and low-income urban Indian households. But today, India presents a compelling case study for the Global South seeking clean energy options. Schemes like Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) for LPG adoption and electrification schemes such as Saubhagya and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) have achieved up to 99 per cent penetration, leading India's transition away from kerosene.
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The heavy subsidisation of kerosene via the public distribution system (PDS) led to its high consumption in the past. Kerosene combustion was one of the major contributors to carbon emissions, such as carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds, which are not only environmental hazards but also health risks. In addition to respiratory symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing, it also increases the risk of respiratory diseases like bronchitis and asthma. Many studies even linked kerosene usage to health crises such as cardiovascular mortality and morbidity and tuberculosis. Women and children disproportionately bear the brunt of these health hazards.
India's move towards phasing out kerosene as the primary energy source has been deliberate and multi-stepped. All the states were encouraged to voluntarily surrender their PDS kerosene quotas in exchange for financial incentives. A Press Information Bureau (PIB) press release suggests that 13 states have become kerosene-free as of FY 2023-24. Through the PMUY launched in 2016, more than 80 million subsidised LPG connections were provided for women below the poverty line, offering a cleaner alternative to kerosene stoves. Crucially, it recognised that energy policy is a gender policy: women gained hours once lost to fuel collection, enabling them to participate in the economic workforce and education. It also cut indoor air pollution—a leading cause of death amongst premature children and women deaths in India—by 50 per cent in beneficiary households. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the programme has saved more than 1.5 million lives annually by shifting 80 per cent of households away from biomass and kerosene stoves.
This transformation, however, was not merely the outcome of a welfare programme but the product of strategic political economy choices. The Indian government capitalised on declining global crude oil prices in 2014-16 to rationalise domestic fuel taxation, raising excise duties on petrol and diesel without significant public backlash due to stable end-user prices. The increased fiscal space was used to fund social welfare schemes, including PMUY, while phasing out economically distortive kerosene subsidies. Moreover, the rollout of Aadhaar-enabled Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) reduced leakages and improved subsidy targeting, ensuring that benefits reached intended recipients with minimal administrative hurdles and costs. This shift from broad-based, regressive subsidies to targeted, identity-linked transfers marked a significant governance innovation. Importantly, the financial savings from reduced kerosene and LPG subsidies were redirected to support clean energy expansions.
However, sustainability of these gains is contingent on continued affordability and behavioural uptake by consumers. For instance, high out-of-pocket refill costs made many beneficiaries utilise LPG only as a secondary source of fuel. This led to reworking and launching targeted subsidies (eg, under Ujjwala 2.0 and via DBT) that sought to stabilise LPG prices through tax rationalisation and cross-subsidisation mechanisms.
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Rural electrification is another significant milestone in India's energy transition from kerosene. India's Saubhagya scheme, launched in 2017, achieved near-universal electrification by 2019, bringing light to 30 million homes. Before the launch of this scheme, millions of households depended on kerosene lamps, which emitted toxic fumes, posed fire hazards, and provided inadequate lighting after dusk. Rural electrification has spurred small businesses, from grain mills to smartphone charging stations. Health clinics now refrigerate vaccines, and irrigation pumps powered by solar microgrids are boosting agricultural resilience.
This infrastructural leap has redefined rural economies, proving that energy access is the bedrock of inclusive growth. India is complementing these efforts with renewables, targeting 500 GW of clean energy by 2030. Solar parks and decentralised rooftop systems now power schools, hospitals, and farms. States like Karnataka and Gujarat have shown how grid-scale solar can coexist with rural microgrids, ensuring no community is left in the dark. The push for biofuels, ethanol, and compressed biogas as sustainable energy sources has further reduced the need for kerosene.
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India's approach underscores that energy transitions are multidimensional and more than a technical issue. Its ripple effects have transformative power for livelihoods, women's empowerment, and climate. By prioritising affordability (eg, LPG subsidies) and accessibility (eg, decentralised solar energy), India has lifted millions out of poverty in a decade and saved millions of life years lost due to household pollution. Women's self-help groups, often managing local energy projects, became hubs of entrepreneurship, enabling not only energy accessibility but also women's empowerment. Further, India's carbon emissions per capita remain a third of the global average, proving that development need not follow fossil-fuelled pathways.
The IEA noted that more than 2 billion people worldwide, especially in the Global South, still lack access to clean cooking fuel and depend on kerosene and biomass. For the global South, India's experiences offer three lessons. Firstly, integration is the key. Energy poverty, health, and gender gaps can all be tackled through interconnected policies. India's success lies in combining electrification, clean cooking fuel adoption, and renewable energy promotion rather than treating them as isolated efforts. Second, subsidies should be targeted to empower marginalised groups without straining public finances. For instance, PMUY recovered costs via tax reforms. Lastly, energy solutions can be decentralised and democratised. Solar microgrids and LPG distribution have bypassed centralised grid limitations, ensuring rapid, equitable access. While Africa could leverage climate finance and redirect COP28 clean cooking pledges ($2.2 billion) to replicate PMUY, India's women-led LPG networks could inspire similar models in Nepal or Guatemala.
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India's remarkable achievement of transitioning from kerosene also prepares it to tackle the next round of challenges. LPG still relies on fossil fuels, and transitioning to renewables and green energy must be a priority. Yet, transitioning millions to LPG creates a foundation for future shifts to biogas or green hydrogen. India's phased approach of meeting immediate needs while scaling renewables balances pragmatism with ambition. It is a testament to the power of political will and inclusive design. For nations suffocating in kerosene smoke or stifled by energy poverty, its model proves that equity and sustainability can go hand in hand.
The Global South need not choose between development and decarbonisation—India's playbook offers a third path. By tailoring its lessons to local realities, developing countries can turn the lights on, one village at a time.
Akanksha Jain is a PhD scholar at South Asian University, where she researches sustainable bioprocess development for biofuels and waste valorisation. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the writer. They do not reflect Firstpost's views.
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