Transition to clean cooking energy: an analysis of non-price determinants of cooking fuel choices in rural India
Student name: Ms Shefali Sharan
Guide: Dr Gopal K Sarangi
Year of completion: 2017
Host Organisation: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Dr Preeti Jain Das
Abstract: The cooking fuel scenario in India, as brought out by the 2011 census, shows
that, of the 24.6 crore households in the country (comprising of 1.2 billion people), 70%
of the households rely on solid fuels for cooking energy while 28% use LPG/PNG.
However, the disaggregated data for rural and urban areas is a more meaningful guide
to the understanding of the cooking fuel consumption patterns. About 86 crore Indians,
constituting 68% of the total population, reside in villages. Of the 16.7 crore, rural
households, 13 crores (75%) use biomass (firewood, crop residue), about 2 crore
households (12%) depend on dung-cake, coal, charcoal and only 1.9 crore (11%) rely on
LPG for cooking. Thus 87% of the rural households use solid fuels for cooking which
have been found to be a significant cause of indoor air pollution, forest degradation and
GHG emissions.
Studies have found that the decision about cooking energy options is influenced,
in addition to financial and institutional imperatives, by social and cultural factors as
well. There is a dearth of empirical studies that have undertaken a detailed examination
of these socio-cultural contexts that, to an extent, are also driven by the perceived role
and status of women, on whom the primary responsibility of provisioning for cooking
fuel and food preparation rests.
The present research is designed to address this knowledge gap through a
community based study. It seeks to understand the underlying socio-cultural drivers that
facilitate the access and consumption of clean, affordable and sustainable cooking
energy. The basis of household’s preferences about cooking fuel, priority assigned to it in
relation to other necessities as well as the level of awareness of clean cooking energy
solutions is also examined.
Key words: Clean cooking, Role and status of women, Socio- cultural factors.
