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A. Srinivas

Bangalore, Nov. 8

Since 2000, there has been a sharp rise in LPG use for cooking in urban areas in particular.

This has occurred alongside a decline in the importance of kerosene.

According to annual household expenditure surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation, the use of LPG increased from 44.2 per cent of urban households in 1999-00 to 59.2 per cent of urban households in 2006-07.

In rural areas, the use of LPG increased from 5.4 per cent of the households in 1999-00 to 8.9 per cent in 2006-07.

The shift to LPG has occurred primarily at the expense of kerosene in urban and rural areas.

Kerosene use for cooking fell from 21.7 per cent of urban households in 1999-00 to 7.5 per cent in 2006-07.

In rural India, kerosene use for cooking fell from 2.7 per cent of households in 1999-00 to 0.8 per cent in 2006-07. With just 8.3 per cent of all Indian households using kerosene for cooking in 2006-07, against 24.4 per cent in 1999-00, it cannot be considered a major energy source for making food.

The importance of kerosene as a source of lighting has declined as well, from 50.6 per cent of rural households in 1999-00 to 42.3 per cent in 2006-07, and from 10.3 per cent of urban households to 6.4 per cent.

In urban India, 41-73 per cent of households use LPG as the major fuel for cooking. LPG use is not necessarily more in the better off States. The percentage exceeds 70 per cent in Punjab, Gujarat, Assam and Maharashtra.

Surprisingly, 41 per cent of urban households in Kerala depend on firewood and chips, followed by Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh (35-36 per cent) and Rajasthan (34 per cent).

In Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, 13 per cent of urban households use kerosene as a major fuel. In both States, LPG use at 46.9 per cent and 52.4 per cent, respectively, is lower than the all-India figure of 59 per cent of urban households. In Kerala, 47 per cent of urban households depend on LPG, about the same proportion as Bihar.

In rural areas, firewood and chips is by far the most important energy source for cooking. There has been no change over the years — as many as 75.4 per cent of rural households primarily depended on this source in 2006-07, against 75.5 per cent in 1999-00. However, firewood use is not necessarily more pronounced in the poorer States.

The percentage of rural households depending primarily on firewood and chips for cooking exceeded 74 per cent in all States except Bihar (39.5 per cent), Punjab (33.4 per cent) and Haryana (63.4 per cent). The States topping the list are Rajasthan (92.2 per cent), Karnataka (91.4 per cent), Orissa (84.4 per cent), Tamil Nadu (81.1 per cent), Kerala (77.7 per cent) and Maharashtra (77.5 per cent). As many as 81.6 per cent of rural households in North-Eastern States depend on firewood and chips.

Firewood and chips, dung cake and kerosene are the main energy sources for cooking for the urban poor.

As many as 22.1 per cent of urban households use firewood and chips, a proportion that has not changed since 1999-00.

Their average MPCE is Rs 691, or about half the average MPCE for the entire urban population (Rs 1312). The rest of the urban poor use kerosene and dung cake (1.7 per cent of urban households).

The average MPCE of dung cake and kerosene users in urban areas is Rs 684 and Rs 990, respectively.

The 63rd NSS Round points out that the MPCE of rural LPG users, at Rs 1,274, was nearly double that of the entire rural population (Rs 695).

In contrast, the average MPCE of the urban LPG user, at Rs 1,627 was just slightly more than the MPCE of the entire urban population (Rs 1,312).

LPG is the common man’s fuel in urban India, even as it remains the preserve of a privileged few in rural areas. The average MPCE of dung cake users in rural India (9 per cent of rural households) is Rs 604, less than the average MPCE for the entire rural population (Rs 695).

Unlike in urban areas, kerosene users in rural areas are better-off than the general population.

More Stories on : Petroleum | Urban Development

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