India to Showcase Groundbreaking Initiatives to Increase Access to LPG at World LPG Association’s Asia LPG Summit & India LPG Summit ‘Emerging Trends’
Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan to inaugurate event on February 6
India will showcase its groundbreaking initiatives such as the Ujjwala, Direct Benefit Transfer and ‘Give-it-up’ schemes aimed at increasing access of its population to LPG, at one of the world’s largest summits on LPG being held in New Delhi for the first time on February 7-8 this year.
The WLPGA (World LPG Association) is organizing its major global event ‘the WLPGA Asia LPG Summit’ for the first time in India in partnership with the major Oil PSUs Indian Oil, HPCL, and BPCL. The Asia Summit will be accompanied by the India LPG Summit ‘Emerging Trends’ and the twin events will be held on February 7-8th, 2017 at Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi.
The event will be inaugurated on February 6, 2017 by Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, who will also be underlining the government’s initiatives towards ensuring the access to LPG for all Indian households.
More than 600 delegates from over 35 countries are expected to attend the prestigious event where the deliberations will focus on the need for replacing the use of traditional fuels such as firewood and charcoal with LPG among populations of the developing world as part of global efforts to increase access to clean energy. This will be an opportunity for the global LPG industry, along with development agencies, NGOs, academia and private sector to hear about the remarkable transformation taking place in the Indian LPG sector with initiatives such as the ‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’, ‘Pahal’- Direct Benefit Transfer and ‘Give-it-up’ turning out to be hugely successful.
“This is a unique opportunity both for the Indian government and the LPG sector to showcase its initiatives and programmes that are bringing in this radical change, particularly focused on rural areas. Increasing access to clean energy is a major global agenda today, and households are a key target area for the same. Rural households in a large number of developing countries still use traditional fuels such as wood and charcoal and India’s efforts in recent years have been aimed at enabling these households have access to LPG. The event is also an opportunity share these innovative initiatives and the story of their successful implementation with other emerging economies,†said Mr Y K Gupta, Executive Director, LPG, IOC.
Notably, India is today the world’s second biggest consumer of LPG in the domestic sector with annual consumption exceeding 18 million tonnes and about a 10% annual growth. In the last two years, India embarked on an unprecedented expansion of its LPG reach through some hugely successful programmes that have ensured LPG access to over 800 million plus people. The key objectives of these programmes are to provide LPG connections to BPL households.
“The three Oil PSUs have worked very closely to achieve the success of this initiative under the guidance of the ministry and support from the Hon’ble Minister. LPG penetration in the country, as a result of these initiatives is almost 70% now †said Mr Arun Kumar Singh, ED LPG, BPC.
“Traditional cooking fuels such as wood and charcoal that are not completely combustible not only contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation but also have serious health implications on users, especially women. Most of the Indian government’s schemes have been structured in a way to ensure empowering the women and protecting them and their families through the use of this clean burning fuel, thus helping prevent significant number of acute respiratory illnesses caused due to indoor air pollution. Similarly, through the Give-it-up campaign, more than 1.2 crore people voluntarily gave up subsidies. Subsidies surrendered by them were transferred to the poor who use wood for cooking,†adds Mr Ajit Singh, ED LPG, HPC.
The discussions over the two days will focus on finding new ways to improve access and delivery of LPG to the last household by involving the LPG sector, independent organizations working in the field and government agencies from across the world. Over two days different sessions will also discuss the innovative strategies currently being implemented in India by India to increase access to LPG at a scale and with an ambition that has never been attempted before. This will also be an important occasion for the Indian LPG industry to explore the ancillary benefits of LPG use in terms health and environmental outcomes.
