The deadly consequences for women of India’s gas price crisis

Sky-high gas prices are undoing years of progress in weaning rural families off solid fuels for cooking – and exposing women and children to serious health hazards, as Shweta Sharma reports

Thursday 27 May 2021 15:36 BST
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<p>In 2021 alone, the price of LPG has been raised four times – stretching budgets for the country’s poorest</p>

In 2021 alone, the price of LPG has been raised four times – stretching budgets for the country’s poorest

Inside the kitchen of Disha Sharma’s house in a small village in western Uttar Pradesh, India, the walls above her mud stove are covered with black soot as she shoves in cow dung cakes and firewood to light it. It is here she will spend most of her day, cooking at least three meals.

In the corner of the room, a modern cooking stove sits attached to a gas cylinder, under the strict proviso that it is only to be used in “emergencies”.

It’s only her watery eyes and coughing that she complains about. This is not a choice, but a necessity to manage the budget around thin earnings, says Sharma, a resident of a village in Badaun district.

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