The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) – the flagship social welfare scheme of the Modi government – has reached a whopping six-crore mark.
The government, which had set a target of providing five-crore deposit-free LPG connections to women belonging to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families initially, has raised the target to eight crores with a budgetary allocation of Rs 12,800 crore by 2021.
At an event in the national capital on Wednesday, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu handed over the 6 crores PMUY connection to Jasmina Khatoon of Shivpark, Khanpur here, in the presence of Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan. Incidentally, the 5-croreth Ujjwala connection too was given to a resident of Delhi, Takrdiran of Sangam Vihar, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan in August last year.
Speaking on the occasion, Naidu termed the PMUY scheme as "revolutionary" and "possibly the world's biggest poverty alleviation programme". The Vice President said Indian economy is striving fast to become 3rd largest economy of the world, and the schemes like PMUY deal with the social aspect of the growth story of India by their inclusiveness.
"It not only tackles the health and environmental problems due to household smoke, but also empowers the women and restores control to them over their destiny," he said.
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in the past 50 years, since the launch of LPG, only 13 crore connections were provided while in the last 54 months, almost similar number of connections have been provided.
Pradhan said the coverage of LPG connections has jumped from 55 per cent in 2014 to 90 per cent now. He said almost 80 per cent PMUY beneficiaries have been refilling the cylinders.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), which is considered to be one of the most successful schemes of the Modi government, was launched by the Prime Minister in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh in May 2016.
Under the scheme, the government provides a subsidy of Rs 1,600 to state-owned fuel retailers for every free LPG gas connection given to poor households. This subsidy is intended to cover the security fee for the cylinder and the fitting charges.
Around 74 per cent beneficiaries under the scheme, who could not afford to make an upfront payment for the purchase of gas stove and first refill, were provided loan facility by the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
The scheme, which seeks to replace unclean cooking fuels with clean and efficient LPG, was originally meant for mostly rural women of below the poverty line (BPL) households. Now, the scheme is extended to all SC/STs households, beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural), Antyodaya Anna Yojana, Forest dwellers, Most Backward Classes (MBC), Tea & Ex-Tea Garden Tribes, people residing in Islands and river islands.
The Petroleum Ministry has launched Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayat to support the PMUY. The peer learning platform is an interface between the government and the Ujjwala beneficiaries.
The World Health Organisation hailed PMUY as "decisive intervention" by the Central government to facilitate the switch to clean household energy use, thereby addressing the problems associated with Indoor Household Pollution.
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