Responding to the Union Budget announcement that 80 million poor families will benefit from free liquefied cooking gas, Krishnavatar Sharma, Co-Founder and Director of Programmes at Aajeevika Bureau, said:
“Our Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is right to recognise the ‘curse of smoke’ for the women of India. Women spend time and energy collecting firewood and plastic to cook with, and in turn suffer from lifelong health problems. The women and girls we speak to wake up at 3 am to collect firewood, often walking several kilometres to collect it, and taking longer to cook meals for the family. Having a small gas cylinder with which to cook transforms the lives of these migrant families.
“But the government’s new liquefied cooking gas scheme will deprive, not empower. Women will fall between the cracks, benefitting neither from the subsidised gas of the Public Distribution System, nor from the Government’s latest pledge. Our recent research finds that over half of those entitled to subsidisied rations under PDS are not receiving any rations at all, while a quarter are not receiving the kerosene they are entitled to.*
“We must get our existing social security schemes right before implementing any other schemes. Already the government has increased the price of subsidized kerosene, and reduced the amount available to ultra-poor households. If anything, the current government is making this basic good even more inaccessible to the poorest than ever.
“Meanwhile PDS is plagued with petty thievery and corruption. The local sarpanch or ration dealer hoards the unused kerosene, and often sells it on the black market for a higher price, pocketing the profit in the meantime.
“We must improve our existing social security schemes, accounting for over 2% of GDP, before implementing sticking plaster solutions.“
*Aajeevika Bureau surveyed 2,871 households entitled to the Public Distribution System, from 54 villages in fifteen panchayats in Southern Rajasthan. Interviews were conducted in May and June 2017.
