IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2013 - 66

nergy is needed to
meet numerous human
needs, and access to
energy plays a critical
role in development
and economic well being. Today the
disparity that exists in the world in
terms of production and consumption of energy is a primary global
concern. In developing nations like
India where 700 million [1] people do not have access to modern
energy services, meeting pressing
energy demand continues to be a
formidable challenge.
The major burden of this energy
deficiency falls on the shoulders of
women since they carry the primary
responsibility of raising children
and running households. In India,
the household sector accounts for
75% of energy consumption, and
nearly 90% of household energy
is consumed for cooking purposes
[9]. In rural households, cooking
fuel is of utmost importance, but
despite this, nearly 625 million [1]
Indians do not have access to modern cooking fuel. Most rural people
depend on biomass like cow dung,
fuelwood, and crop residues for
cooking. These fuels have several
adverse effects on quality of life.
The Indian government invests
heavily in kerosene and liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) subsidies to
help the common man, but practical
evidence reveals a different story.
Kerosene is a subsidized fuel in
India and is distributed through the
public distribution system (PDS)
to mostly low and middle income
groups. The government subsidizes
kerosene to provide an alternative
fuel, mainly for cooking. Each liter
of PDS kerosene has a flat subsidy1
of INR 24.38 [2] and a family is
entitled to 2 to 5 L [3] of subsidized kerosene per month depending upon family size and monthly
income. Usually a family of four
gets only 4 L of subsidized kerosene
1
In 2011, subsidy on PDS kerosene was INR
24.8/L, but this amount varies depending upon
crude oil prices.

per month. But due to insufficient
or no electricity, rural people prefer
using kerosene for lighting instead
of cooking. They claim that they
prefer using biomass over kerosene
for cooking because fuelwood and
animal dung are available for free.
About 62% [4] of rural kerosene is
PDS kerosene but only 1.3% [5] of
this fuel is used for cooking and
the remaining is used for lighting.
furthermore, corruption in the supply chain results in loss of a huge
proportion of subsidized kerosene
which is sold in the black market and used as a diesel or petrol
adulterant. Similarly, subsidized
LPG also fails to provide a feasible solution. The high initial cost
(INR 6000) and poor distribution
systems make LPG almost inaccessible to impoverished people, a
majority of whom reside in rural
areas. Only 5.4% of rural people
use LPG [6]. This shows that neither kerosene nor LPG is successful
in replacing conventional cooking fuels. A few villages in India
have adopted the use of Renewable
Energy Technologies (RETs) for
cooking to address this problem
but the real impact of these technologies on the lives of rural people
needs to be explored more extensively. This article has attempted to
throw light on some crucial aspects
of RET implementation in villages
and hopes to inform readers about
the grassroots' energy scenario of
rural India with special emphasis
laid on cooking.
In order to understand how
RETs are improving rural lives,
the article compares two villages. One village has successfully
implemented RETs for cooking
to replace almost all forms of traditional fuels. In the other RETs
have not been implemented at all.
This study was conducted in
villages named Bysanivaripalle
(cooking technologies completely
renewable) and Semera (traditional
cooking methods used). fifty persons were surveyed in each village. Besides the survey, interviews

were also done. Thirteen persons
were interviewed in Bysanivaripalle
and seventeen were interviewed in
Semera. In order to convince rural
women to become interviewees,
we asked rural school teachers,
doctors, and Anganwadi nurses to
help us. Anganwadis are government sponsored maternity clinics
in villages, and the nurses in these
clinics are well connected with
rural women. Hence, involving the
nurses as mediators in the study
helped us gain access to more rural
women than otherwise possible.
The women who were interviewed
became more comfortable while
speaking and therefore answered
questions more honestly. In addition, three government officials
near Bysanivaripalle were also
interviewed to understand the role
played by local governments during RET implementation.

Semera - Traditional Village
Lacking RETs for Cooking
Semera is a remote village where
around 50 families reside. This village is located in Chandauli district
of Northern India along the fertile
banks of the Ganges and the primary occupation of villagers here
is farming. Some villagers also
run other businesses like clothing shops, sweet shops, and barber
shops. Nearly 60% of the villagers
are literate and a majority of these
are men. The village is technologically underdeveloped and the power
supply is quite irregular. Almost
everyone here depends on kerosene
for lighting and solid biomass for
cooking. On being surveyed and
interviewed, most villagers admitted that the major sufferers of conventional cooking methods were
women and children. The survey
further revealed that despite living
in conditions favorable for agriculture, the villagers were not leading
very productive lives. The use of
biomass as cooking fuel and lack
of exposure to modern technologies has adversely impacted the
overall economic and social well

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

fALL 2013

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