India accounts for 80 per cent of the 600,000 premature deaths in South-east Asia annually due to the indoor air pollution caused by bio-mass usage.
NEW DELHI: Despite rise in per capita income, bio-mass or solid fuel remains the primary fuel in rural households in India with associated damage to the health of women and children from indoor pollution, the International Energy Agency has warned.
India accounts for 80 per cent of the 600,000 premature deaths in South-east Asia annually due to the indoor air pollution caused by bio-mass usage, according to figures available with the World Health Organisation.
In the latest edition of World Energy Outlook 2007, the Agency has pointed out that the government's efforts at improving the efficiency and cleanliness of this basic service have been largely unsuccessful, and the health of several women and children continue to be at risk.
Presently, rural households depend on biomass for almost 85 per cent of their cooking needs while LPG meets 56 per cent of this need in urban households, the IEA said quoting the National Survey Sample Organisation, 2007.
Urban households, which make up less than 30 per cent of India's population, account for 75 per cent of India's residential demand for LPG while rural household account for 92 per cent of India's residential use of bio-mass.
Clean fuels such as natural gas, superior kerosene stoves, LPG and electricity are yet to make inroads in the rural households.
"They account for only 42 per cent of the residential demand for oil, gas and electricity and the rest is dependent on bio-mass and other solid fuels," the report said.
Taking into account the existing policies of the government, the Paris-based agency has predicted a fall in residential energy use of bio-mass including fuel wood, dung and agricultural waste from 79 per cent in 2005 to 59 per cent in 2030.
"This decline however masks a wide disparity between rural and urban households. For instance, bio-mass consumption falls by 0.6 per cent per year in urban households, but still grows slightly in rural households, by 0.5 per cent per year," the report said.
Highlighting the adverse impact of the usage of the bio-mass fuels on the health of women and children who spend many hours by the cooking fire, the report has stressed the urgent need to switch over to cleaner fuel.
"The distribution of particulate matter in Indian households using bio-mass is over 2,000 micro-grammes per cubic metre against international standard of 150 micro-grammes per cubic meter," it said.
It added that "acute respiratory infections make up about one-ninth of the national diseases in India and are one of the main causes of death in children under five years of age," the report said.
Though the improved stoves using traditional biomass can achieve efficiencies of 20 to 30 per cent, the IEA pointed out not much has been happening to achieve that.
"The success of improved cook stove programmes in India has been impeded in the past by an absence of adequate training and support services, as well as a lack of market research to determine concerns of the women who would be using the stoves and their cooking habits," the report said.
It has suggested a business model for scaling up improved cook stove programmes in the country.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}