Case study

Powering Ujjwala Yojana, India's Gas Subsidy for 50m Women

Overview

Access to clean cooking fuel is a huge problem in India. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas partnered with us to bring clean cooking fuel to 80 million women below the poverty line in just 4 years.

Partners

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas

Bharat Gas

Indian Oil

Hindustan Petroleum

Sectors

Government

Business

Location

India

80 mil.

Women targeted

72 mil.

new LPG connections

10,000

new LPG centers

₹80 bil.

scheme funding

Check out how data drives one of India's flagship schemes, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

The Problem

Widespread use of hazardous, unclean cooking fuels

Nearly half of India's households don't have access to clean cooking fuel. Instead, they rely on firewood, coal, dung, and other unclean fuel sources for cooking. Cooking with these fuels is incredibly dangerous — according to WHO estimates, unclean cooking fuels are equivalent to smoking 400 cigarettes an hour, and they lead to 500,000 deaths per year. This hazard disproportionately affects women, since they spend more time at home cooking.

The Solution

Bringing clean cooking fuel to 80 million women below the poverty line

To combat this problem, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas launched its flagship scheme — the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana — on May 1, 2016. Ujjwala Yojana aims to provide free LPG (liquified petroleum gas) connections to 80 million women under the poverty line by 2020.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas partnered with us to carry out the scheme effectively. We focused on three key aspects of the scheme: opening new LPG distribution centers in places with the most impact, tracking the LPG application process, and ensuring that new LPG connections were installed effectively and safely.

Ashutosh Jindal
Ashutosh Jindal, IAS

Joint Secretary

Government of India

From the first day, we were convinced that we have to use technology and data analytics for ensuring the scheme is ... implemented properly. We monitor the scheme, we collate the data, and here the role of SocialCops came in...

I don't need to hold review meetings. I know on a real-time basis which people are doing well, and I can connect to them on a one-to-one basis immediately using technology. Earlier we used to work without these tools, and now virtually I can run my office with my mobile phone and my iPad.

Part 1: Finding the best locations for 10,000 new LPG centers

As part of the Ujjwala Yojana scheme, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas wanted to open 10,000 new LPG distribution centers. They partnered with us to find locations with the greatest impact and reach people who needed clean cooking fuel the most.

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Part 2: Tracking 100 million LPG applications in a single place

With thousands of applications being filed daily, it became critical for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to track how effectively LPG applications were being processed. We unified all LPG application data in a real-time tracking dashboard that helps officials identify where processes are breaking.

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Part 3: Ensuring new connections are installed safely

So far, the Ujjwala Yojana scheme has given out 72 million new LPG connections. However, it was important to ensure all these cylinders were installed safely. Mechanics used our mobile data collection app to collect data every time they install a new connection, and officials used that data to identify and fix unsafe installations.

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