The disparity between rural and urban India is glaring when one looks at the energy sources used for cooking and lighting
Out of cooking fuel
Around 12 million people in India have no cooking arrangements, which means they do not have a regular source of cooking fuel. The situation is worse in urban India where around seven per cent of households lack cooking arrangements while in rural India over one per cent of households is deprived of regular cooking fuel. The situation has worsened over the years. The percentage of rural households without cooking facility has increased to 1.3 per cent in 2011-2012 from just 0.7 per cent in 1993-94. The situation is similar in urban India where 6.3 per cent households did not have cooking arrangements around 20 years ago, but now the figure has reached 6.9 per cent.
India's primary energy sources for cooking
The percentage of rural households using LPG as primary cooking fuel has increased from about 5.4 per cent to 15 per cent between 1999- 2000 and 2011-2012. This was possible because the dependency on firewood and chips, which remains the largest cooking source in rural households, dipped by 8.2 per cent between 1999-2000 and 2011-2012.
In urban households, the dependence on kerosene saw a substantial drop from 21.7 per cent to 5.7 per cent during the same periodÐa 73.7 per cent fall. This has further pushed the use of LPG in urban households. About 68 per cent urban households use LPG in 2011-2012 as primary cooking fuel source, which was 44.2 per cent 1999-2000.
