The government has extended the Ujjwala Yojana of providing free cooking gas connections to all poor households.

Launched in 2016, the scheme originally targeted giving LPG connections to rural women of below poverty line households. The list was later expanded to include all SC/ST households and forest dwellers, among others.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved expanding the scope of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to cover poor families not having LPG connections and not covered under the existing beneficiary categories.

The step will further increase penetration of LPG to 100 per cent households, he said.

Under the scheme, the government provides a subsidy of Rs 1,600 to state-owned fuel retailers for every free LPG gas connection that they give to poor households. This subsidy is intended to cover the security fee for the cylinder and the fitting charges.

The beneficiary has to buy her own cooking stove. To reduce the burden, the scheme allows beneficiaries to pay for the stove and the first refill in monthly installments. However, the cost of all subsequent refills has to be borne by the beneficiary household.

The scheme was launched on May 1, 2016 to provide 5 crore free LPG connections in three years. The target was expanded to 8 crore in five years. So far, 5.86 crore LPG connections have been released, Pradhan said, adding that 48 per cent of the beneficiaries are SC/STs.

LPG coverage presently extends to close to 90 per cent of the population and the expansion will help take the coverage to all households.

Initially, connections were given based on the 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census. The list was later expanded to include all SC/ST households, forest dwellers, most backward classes, inhabitants of islands, nomadic tribes, tea estates and beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Antyodaya Yojana.

The WHO has hailed the Ujjwala Yojana as a decisive intervention by the government to facilitate the switch to clean household energy use, thereby addressing the problems associated with Indoor Household Pollution.