Lack of affordable and accessible energy sources has resulted in energy poverty in India which acts as a dampener for the economy. What measures could be taken in order to boost India’s per capita energy consumption?
Answer: Energy is vital for development and prosperity of any economy. India, however, lags behind significantly in energy usage. The energy poverty prevalent in India can be highlighted by the following facts:
- Despite accounting for 18% of world’s population, India uses only around 6% of the world’s primary energy.
- 53% people could not access clean cooking in 2017 due to unavailability of clean fuel.
- India’s per capita energy consumption is a lowly 24 Giga Joules (in 2017) with an HDI of 0.64. Increasing consumption to 100 GJ would propel HDI to 0.8 making India a high human development economy.
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