1 thought on “‘Energy Access‘: The BIMARU States”

  1. Namaskar..
    Thanks a lot for sharing this.
    Here are few observations/ comment:
    1. There seems to be significantly higher usage of kerosene in cooking in the southern states, as compared to the BIMARU states. Is that because of better electrification in these states – leading to diversion of the subsidized kerosene towards cooking? As pointed by you, non-reporting of agro-residues for cooking in the southern states is quite puzzling and hard to believe. Waste biomass from coconut and arecanut plantations regularly gets used for cooking/heating in this region.
    2. From the maps, it seems some parts of rural/urban MP have shown increase in the kerosene consumption for lighting in 2011 as compared to 2001. These are the parts – mainly in the NE and the “neck” region of the state – in the districts of Rewa, Katni, Tikamgarh , Ratlam (for rural) and in Rewa, Chhatarpur, Satna, Damoh, Umaria, Panna, Tikamgarh (for urban) – which seem to have moved from yellow/green to red/yellow. This is hard to follow. Is there some reporting error?
    3. Similar observation can be made in case of Jharkhand (urban) – Sahibganj and Ghumla districts.
    4. I guess, when new districts/ blocks are made, it may result in some distortion of the data and may lead to such anomalies. Also, the transition of areas from “rural” to “urban” would also affect the household statistics and the charts. It would be interesting to undertake a micro-analysis of some district/blocks which have gone thr’ such transitions and verify the anomalies.
    Best regards,
    – anand

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