Energy and the poor in an Indian village

Observations in a North Indian village indicate that changes in social relations have played an important role in diminishing the accessibility of poor villagers to the local non-commercial fuels. As a result, they are seen to rely increasingly on least preferred toxic plants as fuel. Existing trends of shift in cropping pattern away from crops giving woody residues, and of declining tree-cover provided by orchards, indicate decreasing availability of local fuels in future. Alternatives for improving the utilization of local resources are seen to be ineffective with respect to the poor who are unable to invest in new conversion technologies and have restricted access to resources like common-lands. Accordingly interventions for improving local fuel availability would be of little help unless supplemented by measures to strengthen the social and economic position of the poor.