On 1 May, at 12:12pm, PM Shri Narendra Modi launched PM Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. The Yojana intends to cater five crore LPG connections to women belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) households, over the next three financial years. This Yojana will cost Rs. 8000 crore, that is going to be partially funded from the savings resulting from LPG users who gave up their as part of the Give up Programme.
Ujjwala Yojana a result of ‘Give It Up’ Scheme
Highlighting the success of the ‘Give It Up’ scheme the PM said that about one crore consumers had given up their subsidy that had led to savings of nearly Rs. 2000 crore per year. He further said, in a way clearly establishing the link between ‘Give It Up’ scheme and ‘Ujjwala Yojana’, that money would be utilized to cater LPG connections to BPL households of rural India.
In his budget speech in February, the Finance Minister of India had also announced an allocation of Rs. 2000 crore in this fiscal to cater LPG connections to at least 1.5 crore women from rural BPL households.
Must Read: Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)
About Ujjwala Yojana
Not only those persons, who voluntarily gave up their LPG connections, but also those, who are earning Rs. 10 lakh of more in a year, have been considered ineligible for the subsidy.
Under the Ujjwala Yojana, the aspirants of new LPG connection do not have to pay any security deposit; and the administrative cost Rs. 1,600, cost of pressure regulator and safety hose is going to be paid by the Government. Consumers have the choice to buy gas stove and refills on Easy Monthly Scheme (EMI).
The selection of BPL households is proposed to be done using the socio-economic caste census data. In India, at present, there are 16.64 crore active LPG consumers for whose requirement about 21 million tones of gas are needed.
Expansion Plans of Ujjwala Yojana
According to the Prime Minister about 10,000 new distributorships and infrastructure expansion plans were in the works to meet the enhanced demand soaring up due to the new connections.
With the expansion in number of consumers and in the consumption of LPG, particularly in rural areas, the incidents causing serious health hazards related with cooking based on fossil fuels are certainly going to decrease: according to an estimation by WHO (World Health Organization), in Indian, nearly 5 lakh deaths happen only due to unclean cooking fuels. Experts have already opined for many times that burning fire (Fossil Fuel) in the open kitchen is like burning 400 cigarettes an hour.
Also Read: Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY)
LPG Demand to Double
In the coming years, perhaps in two or three years to be very precise, LPG’s demand in India is expected to touch a double digit level, a Government’s release has said.
In order to meet this challenging demand the Government has taken several steps, as has been claimed by the Government’s spokespersons, to enhance infrastructure.
According to the Government’s release, the three public sector oil marketing companies have supported plans to extend rated LPG bottling capacity from the present over 15,000 thousand metric tone per annum (TMTPA) by nearly 10% at the end of Financial Year 17-18, in order to meet the expected increase in LPG demand.
Also Read: Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)