[Stoves] [stove] Taking up the smokeless village challenge

[Paul Anderson]

TWO more separate messages from Kirk Smith.

First one:
>
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> Subject: 	[stove] Moving toward social investment
> Date: 	Fri, 04 Dec 2015 12:36:32 -0800
> From: 	Kirk Smith <krksmith at berkeley.edu>
> Reply-To: 	krksmith at berkeley.edu
> To: 	'Kirk Smith' <krksmith at berkeley.edu>
>
>
>
> Our article is now published in EPW, the most influential weekly 
> political commentary in India – download the full version from my 
> website  below.
>
> At the bottom here is the editor’s abstract, which does not convey the 
> full extent of our analysis.  In particular, in addition to discussing 
> the merits of an opt-in scheme, we also recommend a shift to a sliding 
> income-based subsidy and show how much greater penetration of LPG 
> could be achieved in the next decade by doing so.  Finally, we make 
> this important point in the last para:
>
> *“Indeed, if the **LPG **expenditure of the government can be targeted 
> to poor people more smartly, it should be termed social investment 
> rather than subsidy, in keeping with other public investments in 
> health and welfare, such as primary healthcare and schools. The 
> national health and social benefits could also be immense.”*
>
> Best/k
>
> Promoting Clean and Affordable Cooking: *Smarter Subsidies for LPG*
>
> Alok Tripathi, Ambuj D Sagar, Kirk R Smith, /Economic and Political 
> Weekly/, 50(48): 81-84
>
> Abstract “The health effects of cooking with biomass and coal are now 
> well-recognised. Although more people use LPG, the number of those 
> using biomass and coal has remained static for nearly 30 years. While 
> LPG subsidies have played an important role in expanding access to 
> this cooking fuel, directing the subsidies to the  poorest and the 
> most vulnerable  remains a fraught matter. This article proposes that 
> consumers opt in for the subsidy by self-certifying that their 
> household income is less than an amount set by the government, instead 
> of the opt-out approach followed today.”
>
> ---------------------------
> Kirk R. Smith, MPH, PhD
> Professor of Global Environmental Health
>
> Chair, Graduate Group in Environmental Health Sciences
> Director of the Global Health and Environment Program
> School of Public Health
> 747 University Hall
> University of California
> Berkeley, California, 94720-7360
> phone 1-510-643-0793; fax 642-5815
> krksmith at berkeley.edu <mailto:krksmith at berkeley.edu>
> http://www.kirkrsmith.org/
>

*********
Message Number two:

On 12/7/2015 2:40 PM, Kirk Smith wrote:
>
> More evidence of the large-scale shift in awareness and associated 
> actions taken by the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in 
> conjunction with the national oil companies to promote LPG more 
> vigorously.  Indian Oil, which sells 50% of the LPG nationally, is 
> leading the way by challenging its local officers nationally to find 
> new distribution modes like this one.  And the media is starting to 
> notice -  excellent!/k
>
> Karnataka hamlet is India’s 1st smokeless village
>
> Seetha Lakshmi 
> <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toireporter/author-Seetha-Lakshmi-479238889.cms>, 
> TNN | Dec 4, 2015, 02.09AM IST
>
> *<javascript:void(0);>*
>
> *inShare <javascript:void(0);>*
>
> gas
>
> Lakshmidevamma in her clean kitchen in Vyachakurahalli village, 
> Chikkaballapur district, Karnataka, on Thursday.
>
> GAURIBIDANUR (CHIKKABALLAPUR DISTRICT): Until last month, Thimmakka 
> had to blow her lungs out even to make a cup of coffee. And this had 
> been her ritual for 40 years now. 
> <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/Karnataka-hamlet-is-Indias-1st-smokeless-village/articleshow/50035075.cms>Not 
> any more. Her kitchen is now fitted with an LPG stove. Like 274 other 
> households in Vyachakurahalli of Gauribidanur taluk in Chikkaballapur 
> district.
>
> Cooking with firewood is passe in Vyachakurahalli since all households 
> here have LPG. The Union petroleum ministry has officially declared it 
> as India's first smokeless village, owing to its conversion from 
> conventional fuel to LPG. "My compliments to the residents of 
> Vyachakurahalli which has been declared as the first smokeless village 
> in India," tweeted petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
>
> Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) piloted the 'Mission Smokeless village' 
> project here, about 77km from Bengaluru. "The idea was to redeem 
> women's health," said Moti Sayi Vasudevan, general manager (smokeless 
> villages) at IOC. "Due to the continuous inhalation of particles, 
> women are more prone to pneumonia due to usage of firewood as a fuel."
>
> But that was until last week. Now, the kitchens have got swanky steel 
> gas stoves and red cylinders. While a separate plank has been built to 
> accommodate the new gas stove in Lakshmidevamma's kitchen, 
> Saraswathamma is looking forward to cooking these days. "I would 
> frequently have bouts of cough due to the continuous use of firewood," 
> she said. "This is the best thing that has happened to women in the 
> village."
>
> In drought-hit Gauribidanur, this recognition for clean fuel comes as 
> a huge relief. As Ratnamma put it: "No more black roofs and black lungs."
>
> *Learning safe handling of LPG*
>
> Gita Jayender sits with a group of women in a small thatched roof 
> kitchen, telling them how to operate an LPG stove, how it is important 
> to switch off the regulator at the end of the day, how not to leave 
> utensils on the stove and go away, among other things. Shrenik 
> Enterprises on Railway Station Road is buzzing with activity as entire 
> families walk in to purchase new LPG stoves. "We had to first conduct 
> an awareness campaign for villagers to tell them why it is important 
> to go smokeless. Drought is staring at them. Why LPG, they asked," 
> said Shrenik R J, who is spearheading the smokeless movement in the 
> village. The next project will be taken up at Gandhian Dr H 
> Narasimhaiah's birthplace, Hosur, in Chikkaballapur district, he said.
>
> ---------------------------
> Kirk R. Smith, MPH, PhD
> Professor of Global Environmental Health
>
> Chair, Graduate Group in Environmental Health Sciences
> Director of the Global Health and Environment Program
> School of Public Health
> 747 University Hall
> University of California
> Berkeley, California, 94720-7360
> phone 1-510-643-0793; fax 642-5815
> krksmith at berkeley.edu
> http://www.kirkrsmith.org/
>
>
>
> To [un]subscribe from this list go to:
> https://calmail.berkeley.edu/manage/list/reminder/stove@lists.berkeley.edu

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