Abhishek Mahesh Chavan

Introduction

This document reviews the current state of the art of access to clean cooking fuels, considering the overall global scenario as well as the nationwide condition in India. Lack of clean cooking fuels causes millions of deaths, infant mortality and physical disabilities. Thus research and experimentation is carried out throughout the world to eliminate this household problem. Most of the unavailability for clean cooking fuels is in the rural parts. Hence many researchers have tried to address the problem considering the rural framework.

          According to the International Energy Agency, Updated data this year show that the number of people without clean cooking facilities has been declining gradually. Over 450 million people have gained access to clean cooking since 2010 in India and China, as a result of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) programs and clean air policies. The challenge in sub-Saharan Africa remains acute, with a deteriorating picture: only 17% of the population have clean cooking access. In total, more than 2.6 billion people worldwide still do not have access, and household air pollution, mostly from cooking smoke, is linked to around 2.5 million premature deaths annually. The Covid-19 pandemic is putting countries further away from reaching universal access to clean cooking.

          In India, national data show a reduction of 10 percentage points in the share of population relying on biomass and kerosene between 2010 and 2015, with most now using LPG instead. Since 2015, government figures indicate that an additional 80 million free LPG connections have been provided to poor households via the high-profile PMUY scheme.

Meghalaya, state of India, located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bounded by the Indian state of Assam to the north and northeast and by Bangladesh to the south and southwest. The state capital is the hill town of Shillong, located in east-central Meghalaya. Area 8,660 square miles (22,429 square km). Pop. (2011) 2,964,007.

Land

Meghalaya is an upland area formed by a detached block of the Deccan plateau. Its summits vary in elevation from 4,000 to 6,000 feet (1,220 to 1,830 metres). The Garo Hills in the west rise abruptly from the Brahmaputra River valley to about 1,000 feet (300 metres) and then merge with the Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills, adjacent highland systems that form a single massif of tablelands separated by a series of eastward-trending ridges. The southern faces of the plateau, overlooking the Bangladesh lowlands, is particularly steep. Many rivers and streams flow out of the plateau, creating deep, narrow, steep-sided valleys; the most important is the Umiam-Barapani, which is the major source of hydroelectric power for Assam and Meghalaya states.

Climate

The climate of Meghalaya is generally mild. In August the mean temperature at Shillong (in the Khasi Hills) is in the low 70s F (about 21–23 °C); it falls to the upper 40s F (about 8–10 °C) in January. One of the world’s wettest regions is found in Meghalaya—Cherrapunji, which has an average annual precipitation of about 450 inches (11,430 mm) during monsoon season (from May to September). (Rainfall at Cherrapunji may be exceeded, however, by that at Mawsynram, a village directly west of Cherrapunji, where rainfall totals of some 700 inches [17,800 mm] per year have been recorded.) Annual rainfall in Shillong, only about 50 miles (80 km) from Cherrapunji, is about 90 inches (2,290 mm). During the winter months (December to February), the climate is relatively dry.

People

Most of the inhabitants of Meghalaya are Tibeto-Burman (Garos) or Mon-Khmer (Khasis) in origin, and their languages and dialects belong to these groups. The Khasis are the only people in India who speak a Mon-Khmer language. Khasi and Garo along with Jaintia and English are the state’s official languages; other languages spoken in the state include Pnar-Synteng, Nepali, and Haijong, as well as the plains languages of Bengali, Assamese, and Hindi.
Christianity, Hinduism, and animistic forms of Hinduism are the major religions in the area. There are also a small minority of Muslims and even smaller groups of Buddhists and Sikhs.
The population is predominantly rural, and few towns exist in the state. Shillong is the largest town; other urban centres, listed in descending order of population, include Tura, Mawlai, Nongthymmai, and Jowai.

Economy

Agriculture

Agriculture is the dominant economic activity of the state. The main crops grown in Meghalaya are rice, millet, corn (maize), potatoes, pepper, chilies, cotton, ginger, jute, betel nuts, fruits (including oranges and mangoes), and vegetables. Communal land ownership is common, but jhum (shifting cultivation) has eroded the soil.

Resources and power

Meghalaya has abundant but untapped natural resources, including coal, limestone, kaolin, feldspar, quartz, mica, gypsum, bauxite, and other minerals. Its sillimanite deposits (a source of high-grade ceramic clay) are reputedly the best in the world and account for almost all of India’s sillimanite output. Electricity is produced through several hydroelectric power plants in the state; however, during times when rainfall is scarce, power must be imported.

Manufacturing

Meghalaya has no heavy industries; small-scale industries include the manufacture of cement, plywood, and foodstuffs.

Transportation

Internal communications are poor, and many areas remain isolated. There are no railways in Meghalaya. A national highway runs through the state from Guwahati (Assam) in the north to Karimganj (Assam) in the south. Shillong is served by a domestic airline handling short-haul, low-capacity routes at Umroi, about 18 miles (30 km) from Shillong; and in 2008 an airport opened at Tura, in the western part of the state.

Government and society

Constitutional framework

Like other states of the Indian union, Meghalaya has a governor, appointed by the president of India. A Council of Ministers, headed by a chief minister, is appointed from an elected Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha). The state’s judiciary is headed by the High Court in Shillong. The state has 11 administrative districts.

Health, welfare, and education

The state is one of the least developed in India. About three-fifths of the people are literate. However, the state does have a number of colleges and institutes of higher education, including North-Eastern Hill University at Shillong. The 1947 partition of the subcontinent disrupted the tribal populations; some tribes found themselves divided by the new international frontier, and this resulted in tribal migrations from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to India.

Cultural life

Meghalaya is rich in tribal culture and folklore. Drinking and dancing to the accompaniment of music from singas (buffalo horns), bamboo flutes, and drums are integral parts of religious ceremonies and social functions. Marriages are exogamous. However, the advent of Christianity in the mid-19th century, along with its strict morality, disrupted many of the tribal and communal institutions.

The Idea:

Using Solar-PV (Photovoltaic) and biomass cooking stoves to provide access to clean cooking fuels.

Solar energy is the most abundant and clean, renewable form of energy, which can also be possibly harvested for cooking purposes. The electrical energy harvested from converting solar energy of the sun using Photovoltaic, can be readily used for cooking with the help of electric and induction stoves. Micro-grids for individual housing or communities can be installed using various subsidized schemes or leasing contracts provided by the government or private stakeholders.

There are several schemes by various players in the market including governmental and non-governmental organizations. According to the Economic times, the CM of Meghalaya, Hon. Mr. Conrad K Sangma, while launching the Meghalaya Roof Top Solar Portal of the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL), stated that people installing rooftop solar panels on lease will have to do zero Investment as they will get 40% subsidy from the Indian MNRE, 50% from the vendor and 10% from MePDCL.

Biomass for clean cooking

Bio-waste, animal fodder, wet waste and plant based biomass all can be used as biomass for cooking using biomass electric stoves. They can be processed and made into easily combustible biomass pellets, which can easily burn and produce less smoke, thus providing clean cooking.

The biomass stove is electrically powered by powering the battery in it which blows atmospheric air to enhance proper combustion and firing of the biomass pellets. These pellets are cheaper, cleaner and readily produced for the consumer as compared to the traditional fuels such as firewood, coal and is also cheaper than LPG.
This combined hybrid technology can be used to provide clean cooking to the population of rural areas in Meghalaya, India .This business model suggests the possible ways to achieve the same.

Value Proposition

This technology is cleaner, sustainable and cheaper compared to the existing fuels used.

And can address several problems of the customers related to-
 Fuel unavailability.
 Extensive labour.
 Health issues.
 Transportation of fuel.
 Economic affordability.

This Business Model is a B2C Model which is centrally operated with regionally distributed bubble zones. The sub-distributors will supply the pellets to the consumer from the the Central Distributor(Owner).

The Business Model regarding the biomass stove and pellets shall be a subscription based in which the consumer buys the biomass electric stove once and is registered as a subscription based buyer for the pellets, with the consumer having the right of buying the pellets whenever they will irrespective of the time-frame.

Customer Segment

Rural household and tribal communities without access to clean cooking fuels. Households in the remotest parts of the villages and easily inaccessible regions.

Customer Relationship

The consumer will be provided with service and assistance through the sub-distributor by the owner company.
All the queries and problems will be directly approached by the Central company, thus creating a close and direct relation with the end consumer.
The Company shall aim at maintaining this relation with the consumer so as to retain the membership and even increase through social marketing from the existing consumers.

Channels

The hesitancy of the rural population in Meghalaya to shift towards something new for them as we propose is one of the major pain point we face. Hence, we shall propose for heavy concentrated social rural marketing and organizing awareness camps to give a better idea of the technology and the basic understanding of the science, advantages over the existing traditional cooking fuels and cultural impact behind it to the end-consumer.

Having close contract through these medium, we can have insights into the customer’s feedback and also we can inform the end- consumer about the details about the purchase of the products and services looked after by the sales department, about the delivery of the same and the post sales services that the customer will be provided after the sales.

Key Activities

Our key activities include-
 Manufacturing & Production.
 Sales & Marketing.
 Distribution & Transportation.
 Post-sales assistance & Maintenance services.
 Retaining & increasing subscribed members.

Key Resources

 The Business model can be split into two by proposing the Solar-PV Business to the Solar DisCom ( Distribution Companies) or Private investors and companies and the Biomass stove & pellets business to agricultural or bio-energy companies.
 Or the Business in a better way both combined can be handled by any renewable energy companies that can look into both the businesses with all the required Resources.
 The required minimum resources would be-
 Financial
 Industrial
 Human
 Physical

Key Partners

 The key partners include-
 Investors.
 Manufacturing Vendors And Suppliers.
 Transportation and logistical companies.
 Local bubble zone franchise owners.

We acquire Financing from the investors, machinery and industrial setup and produced parts from the Manufacturing vendors.

Transportation & logistical firms will carry out the supply of raw materials to the manufacturing plants and the whole distribution and logistical section of the business.

Cost Structure

 The major costs in the Proposed Business would require for the industrial setup, electric biomass stove manufacturing, biomass pellets production and distribution, Installation of Solar-PV micro-grid household plants and Operations & Maintenance of the same.
 Manufacturing & Production and Distribution & Transportation are the most expensive and heavy financing Key Activities of this Business Model.

Revenue streams

 Primary Revenue streams-
 Primary owner capital.
 Financing from investors and partnering firms.
 Sales Revenue.
 Income from subscription-based membership for biomass pellets.

 Secondary Revenue streams-
 Revenue from Servicing & Maintenance of the Solar Installed household system.
 Servicing of the biomass electric stove.
 Rental income if the solar household plant is lease-based for the consumer.

References

International Journal of Environmental Research and Development. ISSN 2249-3131 Volume 4, Number 2 (2014), pp. 183-190 © Research India Publications

Health awareness and the transition towards clean cooking fuels: Evidence from Rajasthan by Martina Zahno,, Katharina Michaelowa, Purnamita Dasgupta, Ishita Sachdeva