India Cooking Gas Pollution -- WEB
Metadata
- India Cooking Gas Pollution -- WEB
- June 13, 2022
- Language English
- Transcript/Script English INDIA COOKING GAS POLLUTION HEADLINE: In India, Soaring Prices of Cooking Gas Reverse Gains in Tackling Deadly Kitchen Smoke TEASER: Indoor Air Pollution Results in Half a Million Premature Deaths in India PUBLISHED AT: 6/13/2022 at 2:45 BYLINE: Anjana Pasricha DATELINE: NEW DELHI VIDEOGRAPHER: Darshan Singh PRODUCER: SCRIPT EDITORS: Salem Solomon,SV VIDEO SOURCE (S): Original, some wire clips indicated in italics PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __ TRT: 3:00 VID APPROVED BY: MAS TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES:)) ((INTRO)) [[In India, millions of poor rural households moved to using cleaner energy in their kitchens after the government gave them subsidies to get cooking gas connections. But soaring fuel prices pose a challenge to the program that aimed at tackling the severe health challenges caused by indoor air pollution. Anjana Pasricha visited a village in North India and has this story.]] ((NARRATOR)) After cooking for decades on a stove lit with firewood, women in North India’s Sarmathla village were excited when they got cooking gas connections under a program subsidized by the government. But now the liquified petroleum gas cylinders lie unused as many return to cooking with wood. ((Santosh Devi, Village Resident (in Hindi)) “Everything has become so expensive, and I am poor. As daily wagers, we barely earn four dollars. Tell me, should I buy food for children or buy gas?” ((NARRATOR)) For many homes, the $13 price tag for a gas cylinder after a series of hikes in the last year has made it unaffordable as they grapple with high food prices and declining incomes due to the pandemic. Despite a $ 2.5 subsidy that the government recently gave rural households, it remains out of reach. ((Paramwati , Village Resident, in Hindi)) “I only cook vegetables on gas. I make everything else on a wood fire.” ((NARRATOR)) It’s a setback to the ambitious program under which over 80 million rural households got cooking gas connections. The aim: to address problems caused by these smoky fumes. ((Abhishek Jain, Council on Energy, Environment and Water)) “That indoor air pollution is equivalent to a person smoking a significant number of cigarettes continuously at the same time. Broad estimates suggest that India loses half a million of its population every year prematurely because of indoor air pollution.” ((NARRATOR)) These women live with those health consequences. ((Paramwati, Village Resident, in Hindi)) “I cough, I get congestion and breathing problems. Then I try to cook on the gas stove.” ((Manju Chhoker, Village Resident in Hindi)) “With a wood stove, I get coughing spasms, I feel pain in my eyes, and I get breathless.” ((NARRATOR)) It is not just poor households that have been hit. Even better-off households in the village use cooking gas sparingly. ((Satyaprakash Rajput, Village Resident (in Hindi) “It is a huge challenge to cope with inflation and high cooking fuel prices. When I am told that it is time to refill the gas cylinder, I get really worried.” ((NARRATOR)) The number of households using clean energy rose from about 30 to 70 percent between 2011 and 2020. Those gains are now under threat. ((Abhishek Jain, Council on Energy, Environment and Water)) “At the very least this has stalled the progress, at worst this has reversed some of the progress. So, unless prices would get again attuned or get limited through either subsidy support or decrease in global oil prices, we may see that households may not now shift toward LPG for most of their cooking.” ((NARRATOR)) That means there may be no early end to these women breathing these deadly fumes. ((Anjana Pasricha for VOA News, Sarmathla village, North India))
- Transcript/Script INDIA COOKING GAS POLLUTION HEADLINE: In India, Soaring Prices of Cooking Gas Reverse Gains in Tackling Deadly Kitchen Smoke TEASER: Indoor Air Pollution Results in Half a Million Premature Deaths in India PUBLISHED AT: 6/13/2022 at 2:45 BYLINE: Anjana Pasricha DATELINE: NEW DELHI VIDEOGRAPHER: Darshan Singh PRODUCER: SCRIPT EDITORS: Salem Solomon,SV VIDEO SOURCE (S): Original, some wire clips indicated in italics PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __ TRT: 3:00 VID APPROVED BY: MAS TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES:)) ((INTRO)) [[In India, millions of poor rural households moved to using cleaner energy in their kitchens after the government gave them subsidies to get cooking gas connections. But soaring fuel prices pose a challenge to the program that aimed at tackling the severe health challenges caused by indoor air pollution. Anjana Pasricha visited a village in North India and has this story.]] ((NARRATOR)) After cooking for decades on a stove lit with firewood, women in North India’s Sarmathla village were excited when they got cooking gas connections under a program subsidized by the government. But now the liquified petroleum gas cylinders lie unused as many return to cooking with wood. ((Santosh Devi, Village Resident (in Hindi)) “Everything has become so expensive, and I am poor. As daily wagers, we barely earn four dollars. Tell me, should I buy food for children or buy gas?” ((NARRATOR)) For many homes, the $13 price tag for a gas cylinder after a series of hikes in the last year has made it unaffordable as they grapple with high food prices and declining incomes due to the pandemic. Despite a $ 2.5 subsidy that the government recently gave rural households, it remains out of reach. ((Paramwati , Village Resident, in Hindi)) “I only cook vegetables on gas. I make everything else on a wood fire.” ((NARRATOR)) It’s a setback to the ambitious program under which over 80 million rural households got cooking gas connections. The aim: to address problems caused by these smoky fumes. ((Abhishek Jain, Council on Energy, Environment and Water)) “That indoor air pollution is equivalent to a person smoking a significant number of cigarettes continuously at the same time. Broad estimates suggest that India loses half a million of its population every year prematurely because of indoor air pollution.” ((NARRATOR)) These women live with those health consequences. ((Paramwati, Village Resident, in Hindi)) “I cough, I get congestion and breathing problems. Then I try to cook on the gas stove.” ((Manju Chhoker, Village Resident in Hindi)) “With a wood stove, I get coughing spasms, I feel pain in my eyes, and I get breathless.” ((NARRATOR)) It is not just poor households that have been hit. Even better-off households in the village use cooking gas sparingly. ((Satyaprakash Rajput, Village Resident (in Hindi) “It is a huge challenge to cope with inflation and high cooking fuel prices. When I am told that it is time to refill the gas cylinder, I get really worried.” ((NARRATOR)) The number of households using clean energy rose from about 30 to 70 percent between 2011 and 2020. Those gains are now under threat. ((Abhishek Jain, Council on Energy, Environment and Water)) “At the very least this has stalled the progress, at worst this has reversed some of the progress. So, unless prices would get again attuned or get limited through either subsidy support or decrease in global oil prices, we may see that households may not now shift toward LPG for most of their cooking.” ((NARRATOR)) That means there may be no early end to these women breathing these deadly fumes. ((Anjana Pasricha for VOA News, Sarmathla village, North India))
- NewsML Media Topics Environment, Economy, Business and Finance
- Topic Tags Gas Pollution India
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date June 13, 2022 14:42 EDT
- Description English In India, millions of poor rural households moved to using cleaner energy in their kitchens after the government gave them subsidies to get cooking gas connections. But soaring fuel prices pose a challenge to the program that aimed at tackling the severe health challenges caused by indoor air pollution. Anjana Pasricha visited a village in North India and has this story.
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America - English