Income Levels and Transition of Cooking Fuel Among Rural Poor in India

Debabrata Das, R. Srinivasan

Abstract


More than two-thirds of the population lives in rural India. Even after six decades of independence and two decades of economic liberalization, it remains the bitter truth. This study assumes greater significance, because, majority of the rural people are still dependent on biomass fuel for cooking. A reduction in this could help India in greatly reducing the indoor as well as environmental pollution levels; thus helping in containing global warming. It would also help in controlling the health hazards caused due to the indoor pollution in the rural economy; which in effect would help the government in reducing the spending on public health. To make this happen, the government should make the distribution system of kerosene and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), efficient. This study could be useful not only to India, but to many other economies that are on the threshold of transition; where majority of the population, still lives in the rural areas, and are predominantly dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. This study was undertaken with the objective of analyzing the socio-economic conditions of rural poor in India with respect to their primary energy consumption viz. cooking fuel and impact on health. The study conducts a questionnaire based survey on demographic, economic, and perceptible parameters on modern fuel such as kerosene and LPG; using logit model to identifying variables useful for the study.

Keywords


Logit model, Kerosene, Liquefied petroleum gas; LPG; Bihar, Orissa, Rural, Rural India, Biomass fuel

Full Text:

PDF

References


[1] Arntzen J. W., & Kgathi, D. L. (1984). Some of Determinants of the Consumption of Firewood Energy in Developing Countries: The Case of Rural Botswana. Botswana Journal of African Study, 4(1), 24-44.

[2] Balakrishnan K., Mehta, S., Kumar, P., Ramaswamy, P., Sambandam, S., Kumar, K. S., & Smith, K. R. (2004). Indoor Air Pollution Associated with Household Fuel Use in India. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/THE WORLD BANK.

[3] Census of India: 2001. Retrieved from www.pon.nic.in/open/depts/ecostat/census/homepage.htm

[4] Chaurey, A., & Kandpal, T. C. (2009). Solar Lanterns for Domestic Lighting in India: Viability of Central Charging Station Model. Energy Policy, 37(11), 4910-4918.

[5] Ekholm, T., Krey V., Pachauri, S., & Riahi K. (2010). Determinant of Household Energy Consumption in India. Energy Policy, 38(10), 5696-5707.

[6] Gundimeda, H., & Kohlin, G. (2008). Fuel Demand Elasticity for Energy and Environmental Polices: Indian Sample Survey Evidence. Energy Economics, 30(2), 517-546.

[7] Gupta, S., & Ravindranath, N. H. (1997). Financial Analysis of Cooking Energy Option in India. Energy Conversion and Management, 38(18), 1809-1876.

[8] Heltberg, R., Arndt, T. C., & Sekhar, N. U. (2000). Fuelwood Consumption and Forest Degradation: A Household Model for Domestic Energy Substitution in Rural India. Lend Economics, 76(2), 213-232.

[9] Heltberg, R. (2003). Household Fuel and Energy Used in Developing Countries-A Multi Country Study, Oil and Gas Policy Division. The World Bank. Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPSIA/Resources/490023-120845825946/FuelUseMulticountryStudy_05.pdf

[10] Jiang, L., & Brian, C. O. N. (2004). The Energy Transition in Rural China. International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 21(1/2), 2-26.

[11] Kanagawa, M., & Nakata, T. (2007). Analysis of the Energy Access Improvement and It Socio Economic Impact in Rural Areas of Developing Countries. Ecological Economics, 62(2), 319-329.

[12] Kavi Kumar, K.S., & Viswanathan, B. (2007). Changing Structure of Income Indoor Air Pollution Relationship in India. Energy Policy, 35(11), 5496-5504.

[13] Mathur, J. N. (2001). Indoor Air Pollution in India – A Major Environmental and Public Concern. Indian Council of Medical Research, 31(5), 1-9.

[14] Mishra, A. (2008). Determinants of Fuelwood Use in Rural Orissa: Implications for Energy Transition. Retrieved from http:www.sandeeonline.org/uploads/documents/abstract/844_ABS _ abstract_wp37.pdf

[15] National Sample Survey Organization. (2001). Energy Used by Indian Households 1999-2000. Retrieved from http://mospi.nic.in/rept%20_%20pubn/464_final.pdf

[16] Njang, A. M., & Jnhannos, T. A. (2011). An Analysis of Domestic Cooking Energy Choices in Cameroon. European Journal of Social Sciences, 20(2), 336-347.

[17] Onyekuru, N. A., & Eboh, E. C. (2011). Determinants of Cooking Energy Demand in the Rural Households of Enugu State, Nigeria: An Application of the Bivariate Probit Model. Asian Journal Experimental Biological Science, 2(2), 332-335.

[18] Pachauri, S., & Jiang, L. (2008). The Household Energy Transition in India and China. Energy Policy, 36(11), 4022-4035.

[19] Peng ,W., Hisham, Z., & Pan, J. (2010). Household Level Fuel Switching in Rural Hubei. Energy for Sustainable Development, 14, 238-244.

[20] Roa, P. S. C., Miller, J. B., Wang, Y. D., & Byrne, J. B. (2009). Energy Microfinance Intervention for Below Poverty Line Household’s in India. Energy Policy, 37(5), 1694-1712.

[21] Stock, J. H., & Watson, M. W. (2005). Introduction to Econometrics. New Delhi: Pearson Education Inc..

[22] The Energy and Research Institute. (2004). TERI Energy Data Directory and Year Book 2003-04. Delhi: TERI Press.

[23] Viswanathan, B., & Kavi, K. (2005). Cooking Fuel Used Pattern in India 1983-2000. Energy Policy, 33(8), 1021-1036.

[24] Von, S., Yasmin, N. B., Smith, K., Ballard-Tremeer, G., Majid, E., & Kseniya, L. (2001). Addressing the Impact of Household Energy and Indoor Air Pollution on the Health of the Poor—Implications for Policy Action and Intervention Measures. WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health Working Paper WG5:12. Geneva: World Health Organization. Retrieved from http:www.who.int/mediacentre/events/H&SD_Plaq_no9.pdf




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/j.est.1923847920120402.226

DOI (PDF): http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/g3221

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c)



Share us to:   

Reminder

If you have already registered in Journal A and plan to submit article(s) to Journal B, please click the CATEGORIES, or JOURNALS A-Z on the right side of the "HOME".

We only use three mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; est@cscanada.net; est@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Energy Science and Technology are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 ENERGY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Editorial Office

Address: 1055 Rue Lucien-L'Allier, Unit #772, Montreal, QC H3G 3C4, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail: est@cscanada.net; est@cscanada.org

Copyright © 2010 Canadian Research & Development Centre of Sciences and Cultures