Anju Devi has spent a lifetime cooking her household’s meals utilizing firewood and cow dung truffles. Now in her late 40s, the resident of Bataspur village in Gaya district is marvelling at her new cooking range, which is powered by that exact same cow dung, due to the Gobar Dhan scheme being collectively applied by the Union and Bihar governments.

“For the past twenty days, I have been cooking food on gas which is directly coming to my house through a pipeline and I haven’t spent a single paisa on it. Everything is free, from the connection to the meter. I just need to pay the money for the use of the methane gas,” Ms. Devi stated, sitting in entrance of her range.

Though it was launched on the Central degree in 2018, the Gobar Dhan scheme has began to indicate ends in Bihar solely over the past month, with native vegetation piping the methane fuel generated from cow dung into houses in three villages to this point. Apart from Bataspur, Donha village in Jamui district and Sakri-Wajidpur in Muzaffarpur have been the preliminary beneficiaries, although there are plans to take the scheme to 11 extra districts within the State. The scheme is already being applied in Haryana, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.

Dung to fuel, compost, water

The scheme’s Hindi identify actually interprets to “cow dung wealth” in English, however GOBAR can also be used as an acronym, standing for Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources. It is a part of the Centre’s flagship Swachh Bharat Mission, which focussed on stopping open defecation in its first part, however then moved on to a wider cleanliness mission in its second part, together with strong waste administration. The major goal of Gobar Dhan is to maintain village streets clear of cow dung, and in addition to generate earnings for cattle rearers.

Under the scheme, the State authorities purchases cow dung on the fee of fifty paisa per kg to generate methane fuel. In Bataspur village, a plant has been arrange on 7,000 sq. toes of presidency land and requires 60 metric tonnes of cow dung monthly. Around 50 households within the village have now began utilizing the methane fuel for cooking functions. Vermi compost ready from the plant’s waste can be utilized as fertilizer for natural farming, whereas the water generated by the plant can also be used for the fields. The whole spend on the scheme on this village is about ₹50 lakh.

Making cash from waste

Impressed with the scheme, many villagers have now began buying cows and buffaloes. Around 200 kg of cow dung is being bought within the village every day.

Raju Ravi Das, who has three cows, is now planning to purchase two extra cows in order that he doesn’t must spend extra money on cooking fuel. “I am selling the cow dung and in return getting the money as well. If I will have more cattle, then it will be more beneficial for me,” Mr. Das stated.

With an LPG cylinder costing ₹1,001 in Bihar, many can’t afford cooking fuel. Methane gives another, and villagers say they’re spending a mean of ₹500 to ₹600 every month for the piped fuel. The invoice is generated via a meter fitted outdoors the home, with the meter and pipe, costing ₹4,000 and ₹1,500 respectively being supplied free to scheme beneficiaries.

“We cannot afford the cost of a gas cylinder because we are poor people,” stated Asha Devi, one other Bataspur resident. “Ever since the cooking gas through cow dung is being provided, it has made our lives easy. Every day, we have to struggle a lot to arrange the woods and other fuel for the cooking. Now, my husband does not need to go anywhere in search of firewood and stray or kerosene,“ she added.

Public health benefits

Another resident, Nirmala Devi, said that cooking food on the cheaper gas has changed her life, as she is no longer inhaling toxic smoke from wood and dung fires.

Manoranjan Kumar Samdarshi, the deputy headman of the Basadhi Panchayat which includes Bataspur village, said, “Earlier, the cow dung used to be scattered all around the village, but now the village keeps the cow dung to sell to the government. The government is also selling vermicompost generated through the waste of the plant at the cost of ₹10 per kg and they are using it for organic farming.”

Mr. Samdarshi added, “This will substantially reduce vector-borne disease and promote public health apart from generating organic manure which enhances agriculture and farm productivity. It also helps in reducing greenhouse gas emission and promotes environmental sustainability.”

While the Jal Shakti Ministry is the scheme’s nodal company on the Central degree, it’s the Lohiya Swachh Bihar Abhiyan of the State’s Rural Development Department which has been assigned to arrange the vegetation in Bihar. Rahul Kumar, who’s appearing because the director of the mission, stated, “It is a centrally sponsored scheme in which Lohia Swachh Bihar Abhiyan is helping to implement the scheme in Bihar. The budget is 60:40 ratio and soon we will start this in eleven more districts of Bihar.”