Gender Budgeting - Energy

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Gender Budgeting - Energy

• Dr. Jyoti Parikh
• Executive Director
• Integrated Research and Action for Development
  (IRADe)

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Introduction

• Fifty eight years after independence, Indian
  women still toil daily to collect fuel wood, crop
  residues and animal dung. Its time to make an
  impact on the lives of women who live in the 19th
  century, if not in the 16th century.

Although this is another first in budget making
in India, it is only a beginning. all
departments will be required to present gender
budgets as well as make benefit incidence
analysis. -Finance Minister P. Chidambaram
in Budget 2005 speech
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Why clean fuels for women?

• Modern/ Not Modern is Relative
• Modern or Clean LPG, Electricity, Biogas,
  Kerosene
• Lighting Dirty Fuels
• Inferior/ Not modern
• Cooking Cleaner Fuels (Pressure Stove)
• Less Clean (Wick Stove)
• Kerosene is superior compared to bio-fuels
• Could be bought in flexible quantity with low
  fixed costs with more distribution network than
  LPG

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Current Indian scenario Energy

• Household energy Rural India
• 95.6 of households (HHs) use biofuels
• 89 million households spend 31 billion hours
  annually in biofuel gathering
• 16.5 use kerosene for cooking
• 5.4 use LPG for cooking. Most of them however
  use multiple fuels
• 0.3 HHs use Biogas for cooking
• 63 of HHs are electrified

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Current Indian scenario Energy contd

• Accessibility of electricity vs use of clean
  fuels for cooking (population in million)

Fuels Electricity (Yes) Electricity (No) Total
Kerosene/ LPG(Yes) 94 23 117
Kerosene/ LPG(No) 352 273 625
Total 446 296 742
SOURCE Census 2001 data
People without fuels much larger in number than
without electricity
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Electricity? Or Fuels? Why more electricity?
Why not fuels?

• Politically or technically electricity is pushed
  more than fuels despite the fact that it is
  costlier than providing fuel
• Electricity for all goal since mid seventies
• Rural Electrification Corporation
• Less Empowerment of Women
• Special Targets and budgets (insufficient)
• Is providing fuels such a formidable task?

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Drudgery in Collection of Fuels

• Women have to walk every month in the state ,
  spending 23 hours during 8 trips, each of about 3
  kms to fetch fuels

Time and efforts for collection of fuelwoods
Distance travelled Households
HHs collecting from up to 1 km 42
HHs collecting between 1 - 2 km 50
HHs collecting from 2 - 3 km 5
HHs collecting from more than 3 km 3
Average time spent per trip (hours) 2. 9
Average no. of trips per household per month 8.0
Average time spent per month per household 40.8
IRADe survey Uttar Pradesh
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Health impacts of Collection of Fuels

• Results in backache (50), neck ache, headache
  and bruises every week (80 )
• 19 persons in HP have some symptoms

IRADe survey Himachal Pradesh
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Economic ImpactsAll India Rural

• Can be viewed at least as an economic problem if
  not a drudgery problem.
• In Rural India
• Nearly 3 billion days are spent in gathering
  fuels and 700 million days in processing them
• About 800 million days are spent due to diseases
• Add to these 12 billion days to fetch water and
  water related diseases

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Impact on MDG (Current Indian scenario)

• Infant and under 5 mortality rate in India are
  amongst the highest in the world. Indias child
  mortality rate at 87 is higher than even its poor
  neighbours Bangladesh (69), Bhutan (85) and
  Nepal(82).
• Source Securing health citizens report on MDGs
• The most recent estimates put Maternal Mortality
  Rate (MMR) in India as 408.
• National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2

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Energy and Millenium Development Goal (MDG)
attainment
Millenium Development Goals

• How energy can help?

Goal 4 Reduce child mortality (by 66 the
mortality rate) Goal 5 Improve maternal health
(by 75 the maternity mortality rates)

• Indoor air pollution
• Fuel supply
• Work burden
• Kerosene and LPG

Goal 7 Ensure Environmental Sustainability Goal
8 Safe drinking Water and Sanitation

• Deforestation
• Indoor pollution
• Climate change
• Water sanitation
• Energy consumption

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Womens Perceptions
Wish to shift to clean fuels. Why?
Example in HP, Shimla
Yes (82.5) Yes (82.5) No (17.5) No (17.5)
Reason Response Reason Response
Convenient (to turn on/off) 18.00 It is expensive 49.00
Time Saving 39.00 The place is too far 5.00
Cleaner Household 36.00 Supply is Inadequate 7.50
Easy Accessibility 7.00 We do not need it 26.00
We Forgo our Share of Ration 12.50
Total Total 100.00 Total 100.00
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Womens Perceptions Willingness to pay
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Budgeting for gender IEnergy

• A national mission on Cooking fuel availability
  to rural women within 1kmsimilar to Rajiv Gandhi
  mission for drinking water
• -For example, women groups can form tree
  growing cooperatives
• Micro enterprise development
• Policy needs to go beyond cooking energy
• Paradigm shift from subsidy mind sets to micro
  credit and loans (to encourage SHGs)
• Access to energy as promotional incentives for
  running small-scale energy business units

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Budgeting for gender IIEmployment Capacity
building

• Enhance the employment opportunities for women
• Promotion of local resources
• Continuation of current programs
• Provide special trainings and special fellowships
  for Women
• Capacity building and assistance to manage energy
  programs
• Widen access to rural electrification, including
  decentralized programs
• Indhan, Pani, Bijleeshould be given political
  priority over Indhan, Bijlee

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Budgeting for gender IIIHealth

• Sensitize health centers
• Spot respiratory diseases from indoor air
  pollution
• Reduce daily drudgery only then can women spend
  time generating income
• Gender should be fully taken into account

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Budgeting for gender IVEducation

• Launching mass education programmes especially
  for the girl child to achieve the MDG
• Use of media and electronic communication to
  educate the public and raise awareness
• Dissemination activities/information sharing
  national, international experiences

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• One-third of Indias total energy, is managed
  mostly by women with too little inputs of
  investment, management or technology (IMT) and no
  political or administrative backing. These women
  energy suppliers or managers need to be helped
  without taking this role away from them and
  instead provide them IMT and improve their
  lives.
• Jyoti Parikh, Business Standard

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Thank you