Rural India still uses unsafe biofuel
Despite subsidies, LPG more expensive than freetocollect firewood, sending down wider adoption of the clean fuel
NEW DELHI: Households using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as their primary cooking fuel have increased from 14% to 37% since 2015, but LPG continues to be the second fuel for majority of rural households in Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, according to a new survey.
The Access to Clean Cooking Energy and Electricity – Survey of States (ACCESS 2018) released on Wednesday finds that despite extremely high exposure to indoor air pollution from biomass burning, about 63% rural households continue to use firewood, dung cakes and agricultural residue as the primary fuel for cooking. However, some of them use LPG to supplement their fuel requirements.
The number of households using LPG in these six states has increased from 22% to 58% since 2015 when the first ACCESS survey was conducted, but not all of these use LPG as primary fuel. The use of LPG as the exclusive cooking fuel has increased from 5% to 19% of rural households, which means that 81% of the homes surveyed still use biomass for a part of their fuel requirements. The survey of a representative sample size of 9,000 rural households in 756 villages and 54 districts found that the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) launched in May 2016 has been a major driver behind the increase in LPG connections in the six states.
Between 2015 and 2018, of all homes that received LPG connections, at least 50% got them under PMUY. The yojana reimburses LPG connection charges (Rs 1,600) for women of below poverty line (BPL) households and oil marketing companies provide an EMI option to cover the cost of the cooking stove and first refill.
But the scheme has not converted majority of the population to primary LPG users is because they still find LPG less affordable.
“The predominant fuel for majority of the rural population in these states is traditional biomass or firewood. This is because the recurring cost of refuelling LPG continues to be an issue for people. The cost of a subsidised LPG cylinder is about Rs 490 which is reimbursed, but the cost upfront would be Rs 700 to Rs 1,000. Firewood is affordable in comparison as, in most cases, they gather firewood free of cost,” said Abhishek Jain, senior programme lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and lead author of the study.
The CEEW, which conducted the survey with support from Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation and the National University of Singapore, also found that the LPG distribution network had expanded between 2015 and 2018, with a higher proportion of rural households in the six states getting LPG cylinders delivered at their doorstep. However, people often have to travel four kilometres one way to procure a cylinder .
“Chulha pollution is one of the biggest killers in the country but the number of households still trapped in chulha pollution is extremely high. The Global Burden of Disease report shows that chulha pollution contributes more than 25% of outdoor air pollution. Most vulnerable are children and women. It’s an unpardonable health risk, we need very quick transition to clean energy,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, Centre for Science and Environment. According to the State of Global Air, 2018 report by US-based Health Effects Institute, India and China could be experiencing a “double burden” due to combined exposure from outdoor air pollution and household air pollution.