For the most part of the last decade, large parts of rural India would cook using wood fires or cow dung and other inflammable materials. Other than cooking, these were also used for a lot of their burning needs. This seemed to serve the purpose and made ends meet but it was not the best solution. The Government spent a lot of time working on providing them with better solutions and they finally got through.
The Government actually subsidizes domestic cooking gas for the people of India if they have a gas card from their cooking gas provider. These have to be created and only work for about 12 cylinders that they would receive in a year. The Government created a policy where they allowed people who weren’t in need of the subsidy to surrender it so that the poor could benefit from the same. This was a great step and helped connect several crores of people across India to cooking gas.
Some of the reasons why cooking gas is a step up from wood fires
- A lot cleaner than cooking fires, which is great for the food you are cooking.
- If cow dung is being used, there is a chance that it is not clean and could ruin the food. Furthermore, cooking gasdoes not cause sooth which is generally a lot tougher to clean off your vessels.
- Less pollution means that it is good for the environment.
- This does mean from the point of view of the fire polluting less and the trees that are being cut to gather branches for wood fires.
- Definitely affordable
- Obviously, there isn’t a fair comparison when one is free and the other is paid for but with the Government subsidies and all the upsides, it is definitely worth it.
How do you apply for a gas cylinder?
There are multiple ways to go about this, however, we have created a website that will do all the work for you. India has three main suppliers of domestic cooking gas and figuring out which one you would want to work with, is a good start. You can decide this based on the number of trips that they handle in your locality, their price for gas or just their customer support based on your requirements.
- Log on to the Gas Booking website and download the required forms.
- Submit some documentation showing them identification proof
- Submit additional documents showing them proof that you live at the address you mentioned
They would then process all the documents at their end and get in touch with you once your gas card was prepared. You can then use the same gas card whenever you book cylinders to receive the subsidy from the Government. You can even use this card if you are planning on working with the Government to surrender your subsidy to assist someone else in need.