Eco-friendly cookstoves are making a revolution in Udaipur's remote areas
The community-owned Udaipur Urja Initiatives (UUI),a farmer producer company, has created a network of 400 women entrepreneurs and reached out to 65,000 households.
The single burner cookstoves, designed to cater to the needs of rural women, have been developed on the principle of efficient and complete combustion. These stoves, operating on all solid fuels such as wood, agro-residue and dry dung, minimise harmful emissions of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and particular matter. They have been certified by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Bureau of Indian Standards.
The rated thermal efficiency of the cookstoves is more than 30%, which reduces the cooking time by half and cuts the requirement of firewood by almost two thirds when compared to traditional mud or three-stone based stoves. The cookstoves are at present manufactured at the plant of an organisation, Greenway Grameen, in Gujarat's Vadodara.
UUI chief executive officer Saumyajit Auddy told The Hindu that the enterprise was working in over 300 remote and scattered villages across eight tehsils in Udaipur and Salumbar districts, inhabited by the Scheduled Tribe communities of Bhil, Meena and Garasiya. 'The women of these households were earlier traversing long distances in the uneven hilly terrains to collect firewood from the forest,' Mr. Auddy said.
The red tape surrounding the implementation of the Forest Rights Act has made it difficult for tribal women to access the forests for collection of firewood. Most of the households have to purchase firewood from the market at the prices which have increased by four to five times in the last five years.
Nathi Bai of Dholi Ghati village in Udaipur's Gogunda block said the new cookstove had reduced her cooking time by two hours every day. 'I don't purchase firewood from the market anymore. Small twigs and branches of trees in and around my house are more than sufficient… I get to save ₹1,000 every month,' she said.
Gavri Bai, functioning as the project's monitor in Bagdunda village, said she had supplied 240 cookstoves during the last four years and only 30 of them had so far required minor repairing. Ms. Bai said she was visiting the households every day, where she was known by her name. 'The Urja project has given me an identity of my own,' she said.
Radha Devi of Jhadol block's Godawara village said her eyes no longer burned and there was no coughing in the preparation of food for her family. 'After so may years, the wall of my room did not get blackened with soot and there was no need to repaint, thanks to the new stoves,' she said.
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The Hindu
a day ago
- The Hindu
Eco-friendly cookstoves are making a revolution in Udaipur's remote areas
Combining climate resilience with market linkages, a women-led enterprise in Rajasthan's Udaipur district has evolved a model for clean technology by supplying eco-friendly modern cookstoves to the rural households, which have saved thousands of tonnes of firewood in the tribal-dominated region. The high-efficiency cookstoves have replaced the traditional mud and stone stoves. The community-owned Udaipur Urja Initiatives (UUI),a farmer producer company, has created a network of 400 women entrepreneurs and reached out to 65,000 households. The single burner cookstoves, designed to cater to the needs of rural women, have been developed on the principle of efficient and complete combustion. These stoves, operating on all solid fuels such as wood, agro-residue and dry dung, minimise harmful emissions of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and particular matter. They have been certified by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Bureau of Indian Standards. The rated thermal efficiency of the cookstoves is more than 30%, which reduces the cooking time by half and cuts the requirement of firewood by almost two thirds when compared to traditional mud or three-stone based stoves. The cookstoves are at present manufactured at the plant of an organisation, Greenway Grameen, in Gujarat's Vadodara. UUI chief executive officer Saumyajit Auddy told The Hindu that the enterprise was working in over 300 remote and scattered villages across eight tehsils in Udaipur and Salumbar districts, inhabited by the Scheduled Tribe communities of Bhil, Meena and Garasiya. 'The women of these households were earlier traversing long distances in the uneven hilly terrains to collect firewood from the forest,' Mr. Auddy said. The red tape surrounding the implementation of the Forest Rights Act has made it difficult for tribal women to access the forests for collection of firewood. Most of the households have to purchase firewood from the market at the prices which have increased by four to five times in the last five years. Nathi Bai of Dholi Ghati village in Udaipur's Gogunda block said the new cookstove had reduced her cooking time by two hours every day. 'I don't purchase firewood from the market anymore. Small twigs and branches of trees in and around my house are more than sufficient… I get to save ₹1,000 every month,' she said. Gavri Bai, functioning as the project's monitor in Bagdunda village, said she had supplied 240 cookstoves during the last four years and only 30 of them had so far required minor repairing. Ms. Bai said she was visiting the households every day, where she was known by her name. 'The Urja project has given me an identity of my own,' she said. Radha Devi of Jhadol block's Godawara village said her eyes no longer burned and there was no coughing in the preparation of food for her family. 'After so may years, the wall of my room did not get blackened with soot and there was no need to repaint, thanks to the new stoves,' she said.
New Indian Express
4 days ago
- New Indian Express
ST school dropout rate goes down to 18% from 33% in Odisha
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Time of India
21-07-2025
- Time of India
Govt claims 1.73 lakh hectares forest land diverted for infra projects from 2014 to 2024
Over the past decade, India has diverted 1.73 lakh hectares of forest land for non-forestry purposes, primarily driven by mining, quarrying, hydropower, and irrigation projects. Linear infrastructure projects like road construction and power transmission lines also significantly contributed to this diversion. The government maintains that such diversions occur only under unavoidable circumstances, with necessary mitigation measures in place. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Over 1.73 lakh hectares of forest land have been approved for diversion for non-forestry purposes across India from 2014 to 2024, with mining and hydropower projects emerging as the leading contributors, the environment ministry informed Parliament on to a question in the Lok Sabha , Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh said that 1,73,984.3 hectares of forest land were approved for various non-forestry purposes between April 1, 2014, and March 31, 2024, under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, now amended and renamed as Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, highest diversion of forest land during this period was for mining and quarrying activities, which were allowed to use 40,096.17 included a wide range of extractive activities that continue to remain one of the biggest drivers of forest clearance across mineral-rich regions, especially in central and eastern and irrigation projects together accounted for the second-highest diversion, with 40,138.31 hectares of forest land approved for such purposes. These include large and small dams, canals, reservoirs and associated to the government data, linear infrastructure projects such as road construction and power transmission lines were also among the top land diverted for road development amounted to 30,605.69 hectares, while transmission lines used up 17,232.69 information was provided in response to a question by Congress MP Sukhdeo Bhagat, who referred to the 2023 State of India's Environment Report by think tank Centre for Science and report claimed that forest clearances for infrastructure and industrial projects increased by more than 150 per cent between 2014 and projects involving security infrastructure and border-related development works accounted for 14,968.14 hectares of diverted forest category listed as "Others", which includes miscellaneous or unclassified uses not covered in standard categories, accounted for 9,669.85 hectares. Railway projects were sanctioned 7,998.65 hectares of forest land, making it another significant sector of diversion, particularly for expansion and electrification involving the conversion of forest villages into revenue villages, a longstanding demand under the Forest Rights Act and other policies, used 3,250 hectares of power projects were approved on 2,644.02 hectares of forest land, while rehabilitation and resettlement schemes received clearance on 1,580.55 related to drinking water supply, including pipeline networks and treatment plants, accounted for 1,282.21 fibre cable laying, which generally involves underground or shallow surface work along road or railway alignments, led to the diversion of 437.63 projects were approved on 543.57 hectares, while industry-related clearances, including those for industrial estates or standalone units, covered 405.82 power installations accounted for 346.84 hectares, and village electrification initiatives used 551.13 hectares of forest and hospitals were allocated 113.31 hectares, and educational institutions, including schools and colleges, were constructed on 83.46 hectares of forest took up 76.14 ha of forest land, solar power 1.57 ha, encroachments regularised under certain policies 9.63 ha, and communication posts 6.54 ha.A marginal amount of land (0.11 ha) was approved for rainwater harvesting structures, and 0.59 hectares was used for telecommunication minister said the process of forest land diversion is continuous and permitted only in "unavoidable circumstances" with adequate mitigation measures.
