Fire woods - India

The total fire wood consumption in 1970 was 2345 Petajoules By 1990; the figure reached 3210 Petajoules and is projected to reach 5722 Petajoules in 2010.8 The opportunity and health cost of collecting and using fire wood as fuel has been estimated to be $6.64 billion using a wage rate(in 2004-05) of $1.33 per day 9, the actual opportunity cost of collecting fire wood could be less due to the presence of large number of disguised unemployed persons. - Dipankar Dey, PhD, Associate Dean (Research)www.ibsindia.org