Modi launches LPG scheme for poor women

Government has launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. The tagline for the scheme is Swachh Indhan, Behtar Jeevan.

About the Scheme

• It aims to provide five crore LPG connections to women in Below Poverty Line (BPL) households over the next three financial years, at a cost of Rs. 8,000 crore.
• Under PMUY, each of the beneficiaries will receive monetary support of about 1,600 rupees to get a connection of cooking gas. It includes administrative cost, pressure regulator booklet and safety hose.
• It is being implemented by Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is for the first time this ministry is implementing a welfare scheme.

Funding of the Scheme

• The scheme is to be partially funded from the savings accruing to the government from LPG users who gave up their subsidy as part of the Give It Up programme.
• Apart from those who voluntarily gave up their LPG connections, those earning Rs. 10 lakh or more a year have been deemed ineligible for the subsidy.
• Removing the LPG subsidy from these people would save the government Rs. 173 crore a year.

Expansion plans

• Nearly 10,000 new distributorships and infrastructure expansion plans were in the works to cater to the increased demand arising out of the new connections.
• The households will be selected using the socio-economic and caste census data.
• Currently, India has 16.64 crore active LPG consumers with a requirement of about 21 million tonnes per annum.

Larger Objective of the Scheme

• As LPG coverage is being increased, there are serious health hazards associated with cooking based on fossil fuels.
• According to World Health Organisation estimates, about 5 lakh deaths occur in India alone due to unclean cooking fuels. Experts say 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 and this will empower women and protect their health.