Ujjwala scheme achieves 8 crore target

The government achieved the target of giving 8 crore free cooking gas (LPG) connections to the poor under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) on September 7, nearly seven months ahead of schedule.

“The ministry of petroleum and natural gas implemented the scheme through state-owned oil marketing companies - Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) - in all the states / Union territories in a mission mode and achieved the target of 8 crore connections, seven months ahead of the timelines set (March 2020),” an official statement said.

Uttar Pradesh (1.46 crore), West Bengal (88 lakh), Bihar (85 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (71 lakh) and Rajasthan (63 lakh) have topped the list with the highest number of beneficiaries under PMUY.

Background

The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched on May 1, 2016, with a target to give 5 crore connections to female members of poor households by March 2019. The target was later raised to 8 crore connections by March 2020.

The scheme aims to provide clean cooking fuel to poor households and replace unhealthy conventional cooking fuels such as firewood, cowdung, etc.

Under PMUY, 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 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 instalments. However, the cost of all subsequent refills has to be borne by the beneficiary household.

To reduce the financial burden on poor households, the government has given an option to them to purchase a 5-kg cylinder or the regular 14.2-kg cylinder.

The scheme originally targeted giving free LPG connections to mostly rural women members of below poverty line (BPL) households. The list was later expanded to include all SC / ST households, forest dwellers, most backward classes, inhabitants of islands, nomadic tribes and tea estates, among others.

In December 2018, the government extended PMUY to all poor households.

LPG panchayats are being observed to promote learning through peer group interaction - Kuch Seekhein, Kuch Sikhayein, where apart from experience sharing, it also aims at safe and sustained usage of LPG.

The World Health Organisation has hailed PMUY 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.