The number of rural households using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking increased by 17.3 percentage points, twice the rate of urban households (8.7 percentage points) between 2011 and 2016, according to a survey of more than 300,000 households across 25 states completed in August 2016 by People Research on India's Consumer Economy, a New Delhi-based think tank.

The use of LPG in rural households increased to 32.5% in 2016 from 15.3% in 2011. The share of urban households using LPG rose to 81.7% in 2016 from 73% in 2011.

The usage increase was slightly higher in rural households than the all-India average of 16.9 percentage points in six years to 2016.

The share of households using firewood/dung cake declined to 63.7% for rural areas in 2016 from 78% in 2011, and to 13.6% for urban areas from 16.8%.

Use of solid fuel like firewood and dung cakes causes premature death from illnesses like pneumonia, stroke and lung cancer, according to World Health Organization .

About one million deaths are reported annually in India due to household air pollution caused by fumes from cooking, heating and lighting activities, IndiaSpend reported on February 20, 2015.

The Narendra Modi government launched the Ujjwala scheme for LPG connections to poor households on May 1, 2016. The government has distributed 25 million LPG connections as of July 15, 2017, against a target of 50 million by 2018-19.

Cooking Fuel Use 2011-16

Source: ICE 360° Survey 2016

(Vivek is an analyst with IndiaSpend and FactChecker.)

Vipul Vivek