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Rahul Lahoti

A Rejoinder on LPG Subsidies

Vol - XLVIII No. 01, January 05, 2013 | Rahul Lahoti, J Y Suchitra, and Prodyumna Goutam

In our article “Subsidies for Whom? The Case of LPG in India” (EPW, 3 November 2012), we demonstrated convincingly that the distribution of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) uptake in India is heavily skewed in favour of the urban affluent and argued that the state policy of capping the subsidies to six cylinders per household per year was thus in the right direction. On account of their negligible current usage of LPG, poor households will be largely unaffected by the subsidy cap.

Subsidies for Whom?

The Case of LPG in India
Vol - XLVII No. 44, November 03, 2012 | Prodyumna Goutam, Rahul Lahoti, and Suchitra J Y

Using data from the Indian Human Development Survey 2004-05, this article shows that with the change in LPG pricing, neither the benefi ciaries of the current LPG subsidy nor the poorest households are the ones to be affected. The larger agenda must be a multi-pronged policy that promotes improved cooking stoves and cleaner fuels, provides specifi c incentives for poor households to be able to make the switch, and improves LPG distribution networks in order to expand clean fuel use in the country.

Gender Asset and Wealth Gaps

Evidence from Karnataka
Vol - XLVII No. 35, September 01, 2012 | Hema Swaminathan, Rahul Lahoti, and Suchitra J Y

In the discussions concerning progress on gender equality, the status of women's asset ownership is a critical missing indicator. Assets are a product of accumulated income, reflecting long-term well-being, and thus are important for determining livelihood choices. While there is general agreement that few women own key assets, there is no systematic sex-disaggregated asset data to measure or monitor. Households are the unit of analysis in standard surveys, where the only feasible gender analysis is by sex of the household head. Using data from a state-representative survey conducted in 2010-11, this paper presents estimates of the gender asset and wealth gaps. The results show substantial gender disparities with respect to asset ownership and wealth.