The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in New Delhi to set up Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) plants in the city that will use cow dung. Union Home Minister and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, who was present, said the agreement would raise livestock farmers' incomes, improve cleanliness, generate CBG and boost organic farming.
The agreement provides for paying livestock farmers ₹1 per kilogram of cow dung. Processing is to be completed at the Nangli, Ghoga-Goyla and Ghazipur waste disposal plants. Shah said it could serve as a model for making all major cities clean and, later, benefit livestock farmers in rural areas.
Shah tied the MoU to cleaning the river. He said citizens want a clean Yamuna, which cannot happen without stopping filth and sewage from entering it. Arrangements are being made so that no cow dung reaches the river, which requires proper disposal of waste from 1.25 lakh cattle.
He said work has started on about 80 treatment plants in Delhi to purify sewer water and industrial waste, and that by December 2028 not a single litre of dirty water will enter the Yamuna.
India imports nearly 85% of its crude oil and a significant share of its LPG, much of it through the Strait of Hormuz. Tensions in West Asia have exposed this vulnerability and brought CBG into focus as a way to cut import dependence and strengthen energy security.
Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion of organic matter such as cattle dung, crop residues, municipal solid waste and sewage sludge. It contains about 45% to 75% methane. When carbon dioxide, moisture and impurities are removed and the gas is compressed, it becomes CBG, which is chemically and functionally similar to Compressed Natural Gas and can be used in vehicles, industries, households and power generation.
The Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) initiative was launched in 2018 to set up 5,000 CBG plants by 2023. Only 132 had been completed by June 3, 2026. Demand is meant to be assured through mandatory blending of CBG with CNG for transport and PNG for households, which began at 1% in FY26 and is scheduled to rise to 3% in FY27, 4% in FY28 and 5% from FY29.
Other support includes:
The benefits cited are lower import dependence, better fuel availability during supply disruptions, support for the 2070 net-zero target, less open dumping and crop-residue burning, income for farmers and self-help groups, and fermented organic manure that improves soil health and cuts chemical fertiliser use.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) puts India's biogas potential at around 87 bcm annually, of which current capacity is below 1%. Several gaps explain the shortfall.
Capital costs are high, with heavy spending on digesters, purification units, compressors, storage and transport. Banks see projects as risky because revenues depend on plant performance, assured gas purchase and the value of co-products such as fermented organic manure. Feedstock is seasonal and dispersed, which raises collection and transport costs, and the IEA also cites land availability and inadequate inventories. Limited pipelines, storage and injection points restrict supply to city-gas distributors.
Policy is also fragmented: SATAT, GOBARdhan and the blending obligations create overlapping responsibilities, delays and inconsistent monitoring. There is a food-versus-fuel risk as well. Heavy reliance on maize and other energy crops can compete with food crops, as Germany's experience of energy-crop monoculture shows, and incentives favouring crop-based feedstock could shift farmers away from pulses, oilseeds and millets. Denmark, by contrast, relies on livestock manure and organic waste.
The measures suggested include viability-gap funding, interest subsidies, accelerated depreciation and tax incentives. The Indian Biogas Association (IBA) has proposed a ₹10,000 crore capital-subsidy fund and mandatory fermented organic manure blending rising from 1% in 2026-27 to 10% by 2030.
On credit and offtake, the suggestions are green-finance windows, partial credit guarantees, priority-sector lending, a stable CBG pricing formula and long-term purchase contracts with oil-marketing and city-gas companies. For feedstock, they include farmer cooperatives, municipal contracts, aggregation centres and district-level biomass inventories. The IBA also advocates a Unified National Biogas Mission with single-window clearances, centralised tracking, common standards and time-bound approvals, built on a waste-based model prioritising dung, sewage, press mud, food waste, municipal waste and crop residues.
With reference to the MoU signed between the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), consider the following statements:
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Consider the following statements:
Statement-I: The SATAT initiative has fallen far short of its target of setting up 5,000 CBG plants by 2023.
Statement-II: Capital costs are high, banks see CBG projects as risky, and feedstock is seasonal and dispersed.
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?
Consider the following information:
| Scheme / Measure | Feature | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | GOBARdhan | Assistance of up to ₹50 lakh per district for community or cluster-based plants |
| 2. | Biomass Aggregation Machinery Scheme | Outlay of ₹564.75 crore to help producers buy machinery for collecting, storing and transporting agricultural residues |
| 3. | National Bioenergy Programme | Central Financial Assistance given by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas |
In how many of the above rows is the given information correctly matched?
