Biju Dharmapalan
bijudharampalan@gmail.com
The recent disruptions in LPG supply across parts of India have exposed a fragile truth we often prefer to ignore: our everyday energy security rests on a narrow and vulnerable foundation. Small hotels, roadside eateries, and even households have struggled to cope with erratic cooking gas availability. For many, kitchens went silent-not because there was no food, but because there was no fuel to cook it.
This crisis should not merely be seen as a logistical or supply-chain failure. It has been a wake-up call to rethink how we produce, distribute and consume energy at the grassroots level. And in that contemplation, there is also in it a conception, which India once held with foresight and with greatness–that conception of social forestry.
A Forgotten Solution
Social forestry, introduced in India in the 1970s and 80s, was not merely about planting trees. It was about empowering communities to grow their own resources-fuelwood, fodder, and small timber-on village commons, roadside lands, and even private holdings. It recognized a simple truth: energy, especially for cooking, must be locally accessible and sustainable.
Over time, however, with the rapid expansion of LPG connections under schemes like Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, dependence shifted almost entirely to fossil-fuel-based cooking. While LPG undoubtedly improved indoor air quality and reduced drudgery, it also made rural and peri-urban India dependent on centralised energy systems.
The present crisis shows the limitations of that dependency.
The Vanishing Knowledge of Firewood Cooking
There is another, quieter loss unfolding. The current generation, especially in urban and semi-urban India, is increasingly disconnected from traditional knowledge systems. Cooking with firewood, once an everyday skill, is now unfamiliar territory for many.
This is not to romanticise hardship-traditional chulhas were inefficient and harmful in poorly ventilated spaces. But the knowledge of managing biomass as a resource-of using twigs, agricultural residues, and fuelwood efficiently-is part of India’s ecological wisdom. Losing it entirely leaves us with fewer options in times of crisis.
Policy Exists, But Needs Direction
Ironically, India already has strong policy frameworks that support tree planting and afforestation. The Nagar Van Yojana promotes urban forests. The National Mission for a Green India and the National Afforestation Programme have spent thousands of crores to restore degraded landscapes. Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) has paid out more than ?51,000 crore to states.
However, the attempts are frequently interpreted in the framework of ecological restoration and carbon capture – not within the context of a decentralised energy strategy. This is where we have to bridge the gap.
Reimagining Social Forestry for the 21st Century
Restoration of social forestry in modern times does not imply retrogression. It implies merging traditional wisdom with modern science and policy. Imagine a situation, each panchayat has its own dedicated energy plantations, ample of fast-growing plants such as subabul, eucalyptus (in controlled areas), bamboo and native fuelwood trees; colleges and schools go beyond merely environmental education and connect sustainability politics in the real world with the classroom; urban fringes and the peri-urban establishments develop green belts which also act as sources of biomass; the farmers are encouraged to plant trees in the field bunds to provide a continuous source of biomass without reducing crops. Such an approach fits perfectly with known schemes but adds a more focused, practical purpose.
Every Inch Counts
India cannot afford to leave land idle. Every available patch-government land, institutional campuses, roadside strips, canal bunds, and even private holdings-must be seen as an opportunity for afforestation.
This is not just about planting trees; it is about planting purpose-driven ecosystems.
A neem tree in a courtyard, a bamboo grove bordering a canal, a group of fuelwood species in a village commons–each of these is a source of a decentralised, resilient energy system.
Self-sufficiency in food and fuel.
Self-reliance is a concept often associated with industry and technology. However, the real strength lies in the most basic of all things, food and fuel. The agricultural systems already in place in India generate large quantities of biomass. This, when combined with a renewed social forestry agenda, can transform into a strong, local energy network that never replaces but only supplements such modern fuels as LPG. This is not to abandon LPG; rather, it is to ensure that, in the event of supply chain failure, the communities will not be left in despair.
A Cultural and Ecological Shift
Restoring social forestry also requires a change of mindset. Trees should no longer be regarded as inert components of the landscape, but rather as dynamic components of livelihoods, energy and sustainability. The current practice of landscaping urban areas with showy exotic plants should be replaced with more useful endemic plants that are culturally and ecologically related to the region.
Reviving social forestry is not just an environmental necessity-it is an economic, cultural, and strategic imperative. If India is serious about sustainability, energy security, and self-reliance, then the path forward may well begin with something as simple-and as powerful-as planting a tree. Because in every tree we plant today lies a flame that will keep our kitchens burning tomorrow.
The author is the Dean -Academic Affairs, Garden City University, Bengaluru and an adjunct faculty at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore
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