Role of Vulnerability in Transition to Clean Cooking: A Case of Chikhli Slum in Nagpur, Maharashtra

FOCUS

Biomass burning, used mainly for cooking, is a key contributor to Household Air Pollution (HAP). It poses health risks especially for women and children as they are directly exposed to it for prolonged durations. Such burning also produces Black Carbon which is a huge contributor to global warming. 

This report was published by Asar Social Impact Advisors in August 2024. It presents the results of a study conducted in Chikhli slum of urban Nagpur, Maharashtra, to understand key barriers in adoption and sustained usage of clean cooking fuel. Households in the slum colonies of Chikhli are primarily engaged in informal and insecure occupations, the report states. Addressing the issue of clean cooking is thus, not only vital for combating climate change but also intricately linked with the overall health and well-being of women in these communities. 

The study uses compounding vulnerability framework to examine living conditions in three different slum pockets of Chikhli – Pangul Vasti, Rahul Gandhi Nagar and Mata Mandir Nagar. It does so against three variables: i) their inherent socio-economic, spatial and educational vulnerabilities, ii) Women’s exposure to chulhas and their double burden of health risks due to informal and insecure occupations and iii) Coping Mechanism of residents which includes awareness about and access to social security schemes and benefits, membership of labour unions and self-help groups, access to healthcare facilities, and political awareness.

This 24-page document is divided into 6 sections: Introduction and Background (Section 1); Conceptual Framework for the Situational Analysis (Section 2); Methodology (Section 3); Findings (Section 4); Discussion (Section 5); Recommendations to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (Section 6).

    FACTOIDS

  1. The respondents are from socially marginalized backgrounds, including Nomadic Tribes, Scheduled Castes, and Other Backward Classes. Educational attainment is notably low, with 43 per cent having never attended school. About 56.3 per cent of the surveyed residents live in kaccha houses and 36.5 per cent lack clean drinking water and 61.1 per cent use public toilets. Despite belonging to socially backward caste groups, 82.5 per cent of respondents do not have caste certificates. 

  2. The report states that only 15.9 per cent of the respondents use LPG exclusively, while the majority use a combination of chulha and LPG for cooking food and heating water. Majority households use firewood in the chulha.

  3. The report notes that women and young girls are engaged in cooking and gathering firewood due to prevailing gender norms and thus face the double burden of chulha usage in the form of health impacts and opportunity costs. Women using chulha reported a range of health symptoms such as runny nose, watery eyes, throat irritation, cough, headache, nausea, and skin irritation. 

  4. Residents reported grappling with uncertainty both in living arrangements and workplaces, exacerbating their vulnerability. The report adds that very few respondents have membership of labour unions, women's self-help groups and social organizations. Awareness about government schemes is very low among these communities indicating a critical gap in welfare information dissemination. 

  5. The report notes that policy recommendations for bolstering the use of clean fuel must encompass multifaceted interventions addressing socio-economic disparities, spatial constraints, gender inequality and awareness-building initiatives. These policies should aim to enhance LPG accessibility, promote its benefits and empower marginalized communities with the resources and skills needed to adopt cleaner cooking fuel effectively in the long run. 


    Focus and Factoids by Dr. Sanjay Patil and Ms. Ankita Bhatkhande. 


    PARI Library's health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.

AUTHOR

Dr. Sanjay Patil, Dr. Chandrasheel Tambe, Ms. Ankita Bhatkhande

Design

Ms. Pallavi Baasri 

COPYRIGHT

Asar Social Impact Advisors 

PUBLICATION DATE

ਅਗ, 2024

TAGS

#urban-health #respiratory-disease #clean-fuel #cooking-gas

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