Digitalized Welfare for Sustainable Energy Transitions: Examining the Policy Design Aspects of the Cooking Gas Cash Transfers in India

Abstract

This article examines the extent to which digitalized welfare harmonizes the socio-economic goals of economic reform and low-carbon energy transitions in an emerging democratic context. It analyzes digitalized welfare’s effectiveness in facilitating sustainable energy transitions through market mechanisms using a centralized approach to welfare delivery. Using narrative analysis, this article describes the shift to the direct benefits transfers regime from a regime of indirect subsidies for cooking gas in India. It describes the design aspects of various government programs through which target populations are socially constructed, as part of the policy of cooking gas cash transfers in India. Further, it analyzes the role of the practices of communicative governance and digitalization in calibrating the key policy characteristics to strengthen policy legitimacy. The insights from this article contribute to the emerging body of the theory and practice of digitalized welfare for sustainable energy transitions.