India earmarks 80b rupees to accelerate LPG adoption

Mumbai

KAMLESHKUNWAR, a mother of three living in a village in central India, first used cooking gas to prepare a meal about a month ago. Her family struggled for years with the ash and smoke that comes from burning wood, until they received a free gas connection from the government as it tries to change how India's poor cook.

State-owned oil marketing companies have since May distributed 1.8 million liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections under a new programme targeting the extremely poor, according to official estimates. The government's aim overall is to increase …