HPCL's Rasoi Ghar Project weaning rural areas away from firewood

Cooking fuel in rural India is mostly wood which women have to fetch from the forest often spending an hour or more every day.

A study undertaken by MART for HPCL in 2003 in 8 states found that the poor cannot afford LPG as the initial connection cost for a 14.2 kg cylinder is Rs 1,600 and the refill costs Rs 270. To address the affordability issue HPCL introduced a 5 kg cylinder at Rs 95 for a refill and initial connection cost of Rs 800. Simultaneously company dealers were advised to open extension counters in

larger villages to make the product available closer to the villagers and the new product was promoted in haats to create awareness. Despite these initiatives sales did not pick up as expected because as a subsequent study found the poor believed that the cylinder was unsafe – it could burst or gas could leak land some felt cooking on gas could cause health problems as gas may get into the stomach! To overcome these myths MART suggested a novel idea of a community kitchen (Rasoi Ghar) where women could experience the benefits of safe, clean and convenient cooking on LPG without having to make a heavy investment in a new LPG connection by bringing their raw

materials. First and foremost, the idea is to introduce rural households to this clean, efficient alternate fuel to firewood, expand its usage, and second, to address crying health and environment issues stalking the hinterland.

On behalf of HPCL, MART has already rolled out over 1,600 community kitchens in 2,000-plus population villages in half-a-dozen States, where women from the poorer sections can experience the convenience of cooking with LPG in a pollution-free environment.

The PPP model involves the panchayat donating a small room accessible to the socially and economically backward classes, HPCL contributing gas stoves, LPG cylinders and cooking utensils and a woman from the Self-Help Group (SHG) being appointed as a caretaker. Women bring in their raw material and take back cooked food paying a small fee of Rs 2. The money collected is used to buy refilled cylinder and pay

honorarium to the caretaker. Thus the model is economically viable.

By and by, as women understand the safety aspects of LPG and get hooked to easy cooking, SHGs also set up `kitty' schemes where monthly contributions lead to women in turn acquiring their own 5 kg LPG connection.

"Once all the women realise the benefit, ease, safety and health aspects of cooking on LPG and the easy finance helps them get their own connection, HPCL will uproot its fixed assets in terms of the community kitchen and move it to the next village for a similar exercise," explains Mr S.V. Shahni, Executive Director, HPCL.

In fact, other oil marketing companies have also been asked

by the Union Petroleum Minister to join the project and cover as much as they can of rural India.

"It is a mammoth task and involves the cooperation of the village panchayat, the SHGs and the community. We've achieved success wherever SHGs have been involved. And now forest departments, Lions and Rotary clubs are also pitching in with help," says Mr Shahni. HPCL is spending at an average Rs 8,000 to set up a kitchen for a 20-family community.

The concept is also being extended to serve more purposes than one. The draft for the National Level Programme of Rasoi Ghars includes making the community kitchen a hub that could do more things than one — cook the mid-day meal for the local school, double up as a service counter and dealership outlet for the company and help augment the caretaker's earnings by serving as a tea-cum-kirana store.

The project also addresses health and environment issues. A study sponsored by the World Health Organisation revealed that Indian women who use firewood regularly for cooking inhale the same amount of carcinogen benzopyrene as if they were to smoke 20 cigarettes a day.

In terms of deforestation, a study conducted jointly by HPCL and the Maharashtra Forest Department showed that the firewood consumption of a four-member household is around four kilograms a day or about 10 small trees (shrubs). This translates into average household firewood usage of 300 small trees a month or 3,600 small trees a year. Shifting women to LPG would take care of a large part of this deforestation.

HPCL Rasoi Ghar won MART the ‘Best Long Term Rural Marketing Gold Award and the Special Jury Award 2005’ given by Rural Marketing Agencies Association of India.