A parliamentary committee has found that only three states and five Union Territories have become kerosene-free, even though the central government had met the target of 8 crore LPG connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in September.

Only three states (Haryana, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh) and five UTs (Delhi, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Dadar & Nagar Haveli, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry) have become kerosene-free.

The report of the Parliamentary Committee on Petroleum headed by BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri pointed out to the gap between the continuing use of kerosene and the claim of 97 per cent LPG coverage nationwide.

Key findings

The fund allocation for the scheme has been slashed by 58 per cent from Rs 2,724 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 1,118 crore in 2020-21. The petroleum ministry briefed the committee that the government had met the target on September 7, 2019, and 96.9 per cent coverage had been achieved nationwide, except in Jammu and Kashmir.

The ministry said the scheme was no longer running, and the present allocation was meant to meet the deficit in the payment of expenditure.

The 97 per cent coverage has been calculated by dividing the number of households (28.5 crore) and LPG consumers (27.72 crore).

The committee was upset at the closure of the scheme and said there was still a lot of ground to cover. It recommends that the scheme be extended to poor households in urban and semi-urban slum areas, and achieve a higher LPG coverage of the population by providing connections to households that don’t have LPG.

The ministry has justified the low number of ‘kerosene-free’ states and UTs, saying their consent is critical. Karnataka, Telangana, Haryana, Nagaland, Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh and Puducherry have gone for a voluntary cut.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is a scheme of the petroleum ministry for providing LPG connections to women from below poverty line (BPL) households.

The need for cleaner fuel

In India, the poor have limited access to cooking gas (LPG). The use of LPG cylinders has been predominantly in urban and semi-urban areas with the coverage mostly in middle-class and affluent households. But there are serious health hazards associated with cooking based on fossil fuels. According to WHO estimates, India records about 5 lakh deaths due to unclean cooking fuels. Most of these premature deaths were due to non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer. Indoor air pollution is also responsible for a significant number of acute respiratory illnesses in young children. According to experts, having an open fire in the kitchen is like burning 400 cigarettes an hour.

Providing LPG connections to BPL households will ensure universal coverage of cooking gas in the country. This measure will empower women and protect their health. It will reduce drudgery and the time spent on cooking. It will also provide employment for rural youth in the supply chain of cooking gas.

Target beneficiaries

An adult woman belonging to a poor family not having an LPG connection in her household is an eligible beneficiary under the expanded scheme.

The release of LPG connection under this scheme shall be in the name of women belonging to the BPL family.

Initially, the government covered the following categories under the scheme…

* Beneficiaries listed in the SECC 2011 list

* All SC / ST household beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin)

* Antyoday Anna Yojana

* Forest dwellers

* Most Backward Classes

* Tea and former tea garden tribes

* People residing in islands

* People residing in river islands.

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