India : Access of the Poor to Clean Household Fuels
There is a strong case for phasing out price subsidies for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene. This study was motivated by the primary objective of facilitating access to clean fuels, given the significant health and social benefits of swit...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | ESMAP Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2014
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/07/2778898/india-access-poor-clean-household-fuels http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19645 |
| Summary: | There is a strong case for phasing out
price subsidies for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and
kerosene. This study was motivated by the primary objective
of facilitating access to clean fuels, given the significant
health and social benefits of switching away from
traditional biomass. Price subsidies have been found to be
ineffective in expanding the uptake of LPG and kerosene as
primary household fuels among the poor, and have proven
fiscally unsustainable. Even given this social objective,
phasing out the price subsidies for LPG and kerosene, and
fostering a vibrant, open, and competitive market for these
fuels would appear to be a better approach. The conclusions
of this study lend strong support to the announcement by the
Ministry of Finance in June 2003, that the LPG and kerosene
subsidies will be phased down in three years, and eliminated
by April 2006. There are significant opportunities to
facilitate a shift away from traditional biomass, to clean
fuels in urban and peri-urban areas, including among the
poor; however, rural households are more difficult to deal
with, and require a concerted multi-sectoral approach, but,
raising public awareness about the health costs of
traditional energy, would facilitate the uptake of clean fuels. |
|---|