Villages as the anchor of India’s clean energy shift

India’s Gram Urja Swaraj campaign is aimed at transforming the villages into active producers of clean energy from passive consumers of fossil fuels through increasing the dependency of villagers on clean energy sources like solar, biogas and wind. The West Asia crisis has exposed the fragility of India’s import dependence for its fossil fuel needs. It is time to scale the campaign into a structured programme, as recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, with panchayats as the primary stakeholders, to strengthen the energy autonomy of villages and shield them from energy supply shocks. The recent approval by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) of the Guidelines for Injection of Compressed Biogas (CBG) into Natural Gas Pipeline (NGPL) and City Gas Distribution (CGD) Networks means that CBG can now be safely and efficiently added to the existing natural gas systems, creating new chances to promote CBG at the panchayat level. Villages have an abundant feedstock of CBG in the form of cattle dung, agricultural and horticultural residue, kitchen waste and other biodegradable wastes, which make panchayats the strategic starting point in a clean energy transition. As purified CBG is methane-rich gas, similar to Compressed Natural Gas, the PNGRB allowed its integration into India’s natural gas grid. The CBG integration is expected to receive a major implementation boost when the country achieves its plan to establish 5,000 bio-gas plants across the country by 2030. Underutilisation of many CBG plants due to inconsistent feedstock availability, seasonal variation in biomass supply and logistical issues highlight some of the key challenges that continue to persist. Panchayats can play a crucial role in generating awareness in the villages to address the issues of feedstock availability to contribute towards feedstock aggregation and segregation of biodegradable wastes. Injecting CBG into the natural gas grid will address the logistical issues of offtake from CBG plants and increase the utilisation of installed capacity. Steady growth in the dairy sector has created opportunities for dairy farmers utilising cattle dung for the generation of biogas and production of bio-fertiliser as a byproduct in the cooperative sector. So long as the role of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj remains limited to collaboration and facilitating the implementation of new and renewable energy projects initiated by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the panchayats’ role in clean energy generation under the Gram Urja Swaraj campaign will also be limited to mere awareness-building among villagers. Awards given to Panchayati Raj Institutions, under two special categories including ‘Gram Urja Swaraj Vishesh Panchayat Puraskar’ given to three Gram Panchayats for their performance regarding adoption and usage of renewable sources of energy and ‘Carbon Neutral Vishesh Panchayat Puraskar’, play a catalytic role by creating competitiveness among panchayats but are not enough to spread the desired awareness on clean energy transition in a big way. The Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, mandates that all matters relating to new and renewable energy sources, including solar energy, wind energy, small hydropower, biomass energy, biogas, tidal energy, geothermal energy and other renewable sources of energy, come under the purview of MNRE, and without amendment to these rules, the panchayats cannot play a larger role beyond awareness building and coordinating with MNRE in the identification of the projects. Nevertheless, when panchayats take the lead in driving the awareness campaign, they also build a stronger public opinion on expanding the role of panchayats and amending the framework of the Gram Urja Swaraj campaign. Imparting training to the elected representatives of PRIs is essential to strengthen the campaign and integrate it into their discussions and deliberations on village and panchayat-level planning. Conducting door-to-door outreach and holding awareness camps ahead of Gram Sabha can play a crucial role in building greater awareness of renewable energy schemes for irrigation and household electricity needs through the adoption of rooftop solar projects, etc. Even though the clean energy transition at the village level can play a crucial role in protecting the fragile environment of the northeast region by reducing fossil fuel burning, the campaign for it has yet to achieve the desired momentum. Panchayats and other local bodies need to mobilise cooperatives in the dairy sector to ensure an uninterrupted supply of biomass to biogas plants and turn rural households into active participants in building a climate-resilient clean-fuel supply ecosystem. Replacing the LPG cylinders with biogas for household cooking needs can significantly reduce India’s fossil fuel import bill and also augment household savings through the biogas economy in which they are a central player. It can bring down the central government’s LPG subsidy bill and cut carbon emissions in the distribution of cylinders from bottling plants to distributors in the diesel-truck-heavy supply chain. Expanding the Gram Urja Swaraj campaign from awareness building into an outcome-driven programme is no longer an environmental choice but a strategic necessity for anchoring India’s clean energy transition at the village level.