Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-dvtzq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-11T10:57:55.356Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Household energy and common lands in rural Haryana, India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2009

Mohammad Hashim Qureshi  and
Suresh Kumar
Mohammad Hashim Qureshi*
Affiliation:
Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi – 110067, India
Suresh Kumar
Affiliation:
Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi – 110067, India
*
* M.H. Qureshi Tel: +91 11 6168432 Fax: +91 11 6165886 e-mail: mhq@jnuniv.ernet.in
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Rural people in most of the developing countries are facing an acute shortage of domestic fuel which has led to many socio-economic and environmental problems. In an attempt to examine the nature and extent of the household energy problem, and to suggest certain measures to alleviate it, 432 sample households from eight sample villages in Haryana, north-western India, were surveyed using structured questionnaires during 1995. We find that there has been widespread switching over to low quality fuels (crop residue and dung cake), more time and effort are now spent in fetching fuelwood, biomass fuels have been monetized, and that severe degradation of vegetation cover has occurred. All these changes reflect the acute shortage of household energy in rural areas of Haryana State. It has almost become a crisis, particularly in the Eastern Haryana Region and in poor households. The common lands still provide a significant proportion of household fuel, especially to landless and marginal farming households. Hence, energy plantation on common lands is an immediate, feasible and sustainable solution to the rural energy problem. There is also an urgent need to prevent the wastage of energy by increasing end-use efficiency.

Keywords

household energycommon landsbiomass fuelsfuel-wooddung cakecrop residue

Information

Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , December 1996 , pp. 343 - 350
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Agarwal, A. (1983) The forgotten energy crisis. New Scientist 97(1344): 377–9.Google Scholar
Agarwal, B. (1986) Cold Hearths and Barren Slopes: The WoodfuelCrisis in the Third World. New Delhi: Allied Publishers: vii + 209 pp.Google Scholar
Agarwal, B. (1989) Rural women poverty and natural resources: sustenance, ustainability and struggle for change. Economic and Political Weekly 24(43) (Review of Women Studies): 46–65.Google Scholar
Arnold, J.E.M. & Stewart, W.C. (1991) Common property resource management in India. Tropical Forestry Paper No. 24, Oxford Forestry Institute, University of Oxford: Oxford, 52 pp.Google Scholar
Beck, T. (1994) Common property resource access by poor and class conflict in West Bengal. Economic and Political Weekly 29(4): 187–97.Google Scholar
Bhalla, G.S. & Chadha, G.K. (1983) Green Revolution and Small Peasant: A Study of Income Distribution among Punjab Cultivators. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company: xi + 167 pp.Google Scholar
Bhide, S. (1992) Wood demands in Haryana's household sector. In: The Price of Forests – Proceedings of a Seminar on Economics of Sustainable Use of Resources, ed. Agarwal, A., pp. 99–106. New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment.Google Scholar
Bialy, F. (1986) A New Approach to Domestic Fuelwood Conservation: Guidelines for Research. Rome: Institution and Agrarian Reform Division: xiv + 360 pp.Google Scholar
Bowonder, B.Dasgupta, B.Gupta, S. & Parsad, S.S.R. (1986) Energy use in rural areas: a study often villages in India. Natural Resources Forum 10(4): 389–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cavard, D. (1989) Energy transition in South-East Asia. Natural Resources Forum 13(3): 216–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, R., Saxcna, N.C. & Shah, T. (1989) To the Hands of the Poor: Water and Trees. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing Company: ix + 273 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chopra, K., Gopal, K.K. & Murty, M.N. (1990) Participatory Development: People and Common Property Resources. New Delhi: Sage Publications: vii + 163 pp.Google Scholar
Eckholm, E.P. (1976) Losing Ground: Environmental Stress and Food Prospects. New York: Norton and Company: xi + 223 pp.Google Scholar
Gellcr, M.S. (1982) Cooking in Ungra area: efficiency, energy losses and opportunities for reducing firewood consumption. Biomass 2(2): 83–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Government of Haryana (1993) Statistical Abstract of Haryana 1991–92. Economic and Statistical Department, Government of Haryana, Chandigarh, India: 797 pp.Google Scholar
Government of India (1988) Regional Divisions of India – A Cartographic Analysis. Occasional Papers, Series 1, Vol. VI, Census of India, New Delhi: 171 pp.Google Scholar
Iyengar, S. (1989) Common property resources in Gujarat: some findings about their size, status and use. Economic and Political Weekly 24(25) (Review of Agriculture): A67–77.Google Scholar
Jauhari, A.S. (1971) Punjab Plain. In: India: A Regional Geography, ed. Singh, R.L., pp. 83–123. Varanasi: National Geographical Society of India.Google Scholar
Jodha, N.S. (1986) Common property resources and rural poor in dry regions of India. Economic and Political Weekly 21(27): 1169–81.Google Scholar
Kennes, W., Parikh, J.K. & Stowlijk, H. (1984) Energy from biomass by socio-economic groups – a case study of Bangladesh. Biomass 4(3): 209–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leach, G. (1987) Household energy in South Asia. Biomass 12(2): 155–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maji, C.S. (1995) Nonconventional energy sources – a solution to global warming in the Indian context. Energy Sources 17(4): 459–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadkarni, M.V., Pasha, S.A. & Prabhakar, L.S. (1989) The Political Economy of Forest Use and Management. New Delhi: Sage Publications, xi + 182 pp.Google Scholar
Nagabrahmam, D. & Sambrani, S. (1983) Women's drudgery in firewood collection. Economic and Political Weekly 18(1 & 2): 33–8.Google Scholar
NCAER (1985) Domestic Fuel Survey with Special Reference to Kerosene. New Delhi: National Council of Applied Economic Research: ix + 295 pp.Google Scholar
Partap, D. & Qureshi, M.H. (1993) Fuelwood-based energy consumption by rural households: a case study of the hill region of Uttar Pradesh. Annals of the National Association of Geographers, India 13(2): 39–53.Google Scholar
Qureshi, M.H., Jaglan, M.S. & Kumar, S. (1995) Bishnoi community and environmental conservation: a study of their perception. DSA Working Paper No. 3, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India: 38 pp.Google Scholar
Rao, H. (1990) Rural Energy Crisis: A Diagnostic Analysis. Banglorc: Institute for Social & Economic Change: vii + 185 pp.Google Scholar
Ravindranath, N.H. & Hall, D.O. (1995) Biomass, Energy and Environment: A Developing Country Perspective from India. New York: Oxford University Press: xiii + 376 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reddy, A.K.N. (1982) Rural energy consumption pattern – a field study. Biomass 2(4): 255–80.Google Scholar
Reddy, A.K.N. & Ravindranath, N.H. (1987) Biomass, village energy and rural development. In: Biomass: Regenerable Energy, ed. Hall, D. O. & Overend, R.P., pp. 387–441. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Reddy, B.S. (1994) Biomass energy for India: an overview. Energy Conservation and Management 35(4): 341–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sahoq, H.P. & Misra, M.K. (1994) Village ecocomplex functioning with common property resources: a case study on coastal Orissa, India. Environmental Conservation 21(1): 57–61.Google Scholar
Sharma, R.D. (1993) Energy consumption survey in the Aravalli Project Area. Survey Report No. 3, Aravalli Project, Haryana Forest Department, Gurgaon, Haryana, India: 107 pp.Google Scholar
Sharma, V.P., Gajja, B.L. & Shah, D. (1995) Managing land and water resources for sustainable agricultural development: issues and options. Artha Vijnana 37(1): 46–65.Google Scholar
Singh, D.V. (1993) A study of impact of agricultural support land on hill economy of Himachal Pradesh. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics 48(3): 551–6.Google Scholar
Singh, K. (1994) Managing Common Pool Resources: Principles and Case Studies. New Delhi: Oxford University Press: xv + 366 pp.Google Scholar
Sinha, C.S. (1992) Renewable energy programmes in India: a brief review of experience and prospects. Natural Resources Forum 16(4): 305–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinha, C.S., Venkata, R.P. & Joshi, V. (1994) Rural energy planning in India: designing effective intervention strategies. Energy Policy 22(5): 403–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soussan, J., Gevers, E., Ghimire, K. & O'Keefe, P. (1991) Planning for sostainability: access to fuelwood in Dhanusha district, Nepal. World Development 19(10): 1299–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srivastava, H.C. & Chaturvedi, M.K. (1989) Dependency and Common Property Resources of Tribal and Rural Poor. New Delhi: Common Wealth Publishers: ix + 128 pp.Google Scholar
Srivastava, J.P.L. & Kaul, R.N. (1994) Greening of the Common Lands in the Aravalli. Aravalli Project, Haryana Forest Department, Gurgaon, Haryana, India: 47 pp.Google Scholar
TERI (1994) TERI Energy Data Directory and Yearbook 1994/95. New Delhi: Tata Energy Research Institute: viii + 315 pp.Google Scholar
Vimal, O.P. & Tyagi, P.D. (1986) Fuelwood from Wastelands. New Delhi: Yatan Publications: v + 376 pp.Google Scholar
Xiaohau, W. & Zhenming, F. (1996) Survey of rural household energy consumption in China. Energy 28(7/8): 703–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar