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Thursday, December 4, 2014

No more subsidised kerosene through PDS

 
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has scrapped the supply of subsidised kerosene through the Public Distribution System (PDS).

The Centre plans to write to States asking them to provide subsidised kerosene only to un-electrified households.

States which have achieved near 100% electrification will be incentivised to become kerosene-free


In the remaining States, un-electrified households will be given the choice between cash subsidy in lieu of kerosene allocation and upfront subsidy for greener solar lighting systems.

 This decision comes close on the heels of cuts in the Centre’s social sector spending allocations aimed at aligning plan expenditure with subdued revenue collections.

The Census showed that kerosene has been almost completely replaced by LPG in urban and semi-urban areas and biomass is the cooking fuel of choice in the rural areas.

Less than 2 % of India’s rural households use kerosene as cooking fuel, according to the Census.

Kerosene subsidy outgo is estimated to come down to Rs. 5,852.14 crore in the next year’s budget to be presented in February 2015

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