Extent of Energy Poverty among Tribal and its linkages to the child health and development In India

Abstract

Introduction The energy poverty refers to the lack of access of poorer households’ to sufficient volumes of efficient means of energy for their daily use. In developing countries the development needs are intrinsically linked to solving the question of energy poverty. In this paper we have focus on identifying the associations in understanding the present energy resources being used amongst the Indian tribal population and child health and their development issues. Methods The data used for the present study is India Human Development Survey-II (IHDS-II), 2011-12 which is a nationally representative, multi-topic survey of 42,152 households in 1,503 villages and 971 urban neighbourhoods across India. These data are mostly re-interviews of households interviewed for IHDS-I, 2004-05. Results The results showed that the consumption of polluting fuel is more prevalent among tribal, belonging to the backward section of the society they consume the readily available cheapest source of energy far more than any other cast. A significant percentage of them also not aware about if the smoke is harmful. It was also found that the birth weight of tribal children is comparatively far lesser than the children of the other cast. Conclusion In conclusion we can say that the traditional forest energy resources that tribal still use today greatly influences the health of their children as well as their family. In the modern times where the modern energy sources can be made available at low cost can change the health as well as the infrastructural face of the tribal community.