New Delhi, March 11 -- The war in West Asia that has blocked supplies of crude oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and refinery products from the Gulf serves India a reality check on the soundness of relying on imported hydrocarbons for cooking food.

It is high time we began to wean our kitchens off liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and piped natural gas (PNG); while LPG is essentially a mixture of propane and butane, PNG is mostly methane, like the compressed natural gas (CNG) that is used by vehicles as a low-carbon substitute for petrol and diesel.

We should cook, instead, on electric stoves that run on power generated from domestic coal and renewables.

Since we have our own coal, its supply cannot be disrupted by a war abroad. Nor is its pri...