The problems of fuel insufficiency, over exploitation of biomass resources
and poor reliability and quality of energy services available to the rural
masses of India continues despite numerous initiatives by the government. T
hese initiatives have largely been in the form of national level rural and
renewable energy programmes aimed at improving people's quality of life and
reducing the existing pressure on the natural resource base. The programme
s have met with limited success on account of several reasons. One of these
is the absence of a mechanism for ensuring the genuine participation of th
e local inhabitants. With this weakness in mind, the Tata Energy Research I
nstitute (TERI) and the University of Waterloo (UW) undertook a joint resea
rch project (1994-1997), aimed at developing participatory planning and int
ervention design methodologies and tools to facilitate public participation
and feature a meaningful role for women in rural energy planning. This pap
er presents the policy implications and recommendations of the work. (C) 20
01 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.