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02/ 11/ 2012
Env ironm ent al im plic at ions of t he energy ladder in rural I ndia
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Environmental implications of the energy ladder in rural India
DETAC H
P AG E
Environmental implications of the energy ladder in rural India
by Preet i Malhot ra, Tat a Energy Research Inst it ut e, Darbari Set h Block , Habit at
Place, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110 003, India
The rural population in India depends on traditional biomass fuels (wood, animal dung
and crop residues) for meeting their energy needs. Though nationally there has been a
decrease in the share of traditional fuels, as biomass is being increasingly substituted by
commercial fuels, the shift to commercial fuels has been negligible in rural areas. In these
areas, the monthly consumption of fuelwood has increased per person from 16.24 kg in
1987- 88 to 17.27 kg in 1993- 94 (NSSO 1997).
Energy consumption in rural areas is determined by: the availability and accessibility of
local biomass resources; the competing uses for biomass; availability of commercial
energy sources; the cost of commercial fuels such as LPG and kerosene (NCAER
1985); absence of an effective supply especially in the rural areas (TERI 1998); and
inadequate production and refining capacity of LPG (Ravindranath and Ramakrishna
1997).
One reason is the range of policies on supply and pricing of commercial fuels, which
discriminates between urban and rural areas. The Government of India gives a subsidy
on kerosene and LPG, which mainly benefits the urban population, where these fuels are
easily available. The price paid by the consumer for kerosene is 69% of the production
and supply cost, for LPG it is 61% and for electricity it is 48% (TERI 1992). For
commercial fuels, the supply and distribution, as well as the prices, are regulated by
government agencies. Kerosene is supplied through the Public Distribution System
(PDS) - a...