The Energy, Poverty and Gender Nexus in Himachal Pradesh, India: The Impact of Clean Fuel Access Policy on Women’s Empowerment
This study focused on poverty, gender and environment and health issues in Himachal Pradesh and involved a gender specific survey to address this issue. The study found women walk approximately 30 Kms in a month to collect fuel-wood. Primary survey estimated accessibility and use of clean fuel by households for 30 villages in two districts and a survey on the kerosene depots was also conducted to get the seller’s perspective of supply situation under Public Distribution System(PDS). It was found that the people in HP are willing to pay for Kerosene, the next fuel on the energy ladder above biofuels, but due to increased availability of LPG, the demand for kerosene has been on the decline. The profit margins in selling kerosene under PDS are fairly low as a result most sellers have other businesses, commonly ration shops and view this as a supplementary business.
Gender Audit of National Energy Policies in India
This is a collaborative exercise to draw attention to the lack of gender concerns in National Energy Policies in India. The study was done by IRADe in collaboration with ENERGIA.
The Gender audit exercise was carried out to define an approach in making national energy policies more gender responsive in terms of its content and process. The key recommendations consisted of (a) Reorienting Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanisms to Reflect Gender concerns in Energy programmes, (b) Linking women’s empowerment with energy development, (c) Inter-Ministerial Coordination in addressing Energy Security and (d) Operationalizing the Goal of “Making Cooking Fuels Available within 1 Km. of Habitations”.