Ambuj Sagar, Professor of Policy Studies at IIT, writing in the Times of India makes the point that as opposed to the earlier almost two-decade-long Indian National Programme on Improved Chulhas (NPIC) that focussed on efficiency rather than clean combustion, the new National Biomass Cookstove Initiative by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy focuses on technology from two specific points of view. 
One, that no technology dissemination can succeed without being useful and attractive to the “consumer”. And, two, that just because the ultimate target group is the poor, it does not mean that product has to be low-tech.
The write-up, titled "Change Brewing In The Kitchen: New-Age Chulhas May Finally Make Life Easier, Cleaner For Millions" says:
A quick backgrounder: more than 70% of the households in India still depend on biomass for their cooking needs. These fuels are mostly burnt in traditional chulhas — a three-stone design that leads to inefficient and poor combustion. The resulting pollutants not only lead to enormous health and social consequences for the poorest and the most vulnerable (especially women and children), but also contribute significantly to outdoor pollution as well as climate change.
It is incredibly shameful for India to have an estimated 160 million households suffer these impacts in the 21st century. Globally, an estimated 2.5 billion people suffer the consequences of such poor household energy and the number is estimated to increase in absolute terms in the absence of directed policies to change status quo.
India had a National Program on Improved Chulhas (NPIC) that was initiated in 1984-85 and shut down in 2002.
While there were some questions about its ultimate effectiveness, some 35 million improved stoves were given out. The goals of that program were mainly improved efficiency rather than clean combustion. Recently, the ministry of new and renewable energy has launched a new National Biomass Cookstove Initiative, a very welcome and exciting development.
The government seems open to taking a very different approach. First of all, it begins with the understanding that no technology dissemination can succeed without being useful and attractive to the “consumer”.
Secondly, just because the ultimate target group is the poor, it does not mean that product has to be low-tech. In fact, the initiative intends to provide clean and efficient energy services that could compare with LPG and this objective cannot be met without the use of cutting-edge science and technology to design the next generation of cookstoves.
Providing LPG, of course, would be an even better option but it’s costly and would entail subsidies. In 2008-09, the LPG subsidy burden was Rs 17,600 crore and further increases are seen as unsustainable.
A report prepared for the ministry by an IIT Delhi and TERI team (of which I am a member) has suggested a novel approach – the use of a global innovation prize – as a way to push the frontiers of technology in this area.
But success cannot come through new technology alone. The report indicates we still need to develop dissemination models that allow for product customization for local needs, build partnerships and networks that facilitate supply chains for biomass as well as cookstoves (and maintenance of the latter).
We will also require a testing and certification system that ensures quality products and builds consumer confidence. A carefully designed assessment system also needs to be in place to ensure that the cookstoves are indeed fitting the bill. But most of all, the program will require a sustained campaign to build awareness and understanding of the ill-effects of traditional cookstoves and promote better-performing alternatives.
What then might be the gains from a successful program? Some of us have tried to assess the potential benefits: as many as 5.7 lakh premature deaths of women and children and over 4% of India’s emissions of greenhouse gases may be avoided. Additionally one-third of the emissions of black carbon, a pollutant that is receiving increasing attention in the climate arena, too could be avoided.
The new cookstoves initiative is very much an idea whose time has come again – and not a moment too soon!
