Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Scheme, a novel cause for poor families

Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to launch an ambitious Rs 8000 crore ‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Scheme’on Sunday in Ballia.

The scheme aims to provide 5 crore free LPG connections to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families using the money saved from 1.13 crore cooking gas users voluntarily giving up their LPG subsidies.

Savings for Ujjwala scheme:

• The scheme is being launched from the money saved from ‘Give-it-up’ campaign.
• The Campaign sough the well-heeled to voluntarily surrender cooking gas subsidies for one year was launched in January, 2015.
• More than 1.13 crore people gave their LPG subsidies and are buying the cooking gas at market prices.

The scheme:

• Around Rs 5,000 crores of subsidy saved is being used to provide LPG connection to the poor.
• 1.5 crores connection will be distributed to families in the first year.
• The scheme also provides a financial support of Rs. 1,600 for each LPG connection to the BPL households.
• The identification of eligible BPL families will be made in consultation with the State Governments and the Union Territories, he said.

For a novel cause:

The petroleum minister of states few days ago, giving a statistics of World Health Organization (WHO) said, about 5 lakh people die in India alone due to unclean cooking fuels.

Experts say having an open fire in the kitchen is like burning 400 cigarettes an hour.

The Budget:

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in his Budget for 2016-17 provided Rs 2000 crore to provide deposit free LPG connections to 1.5 crore women belonging to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.

Further, the Budget announced that the Scheme will be continued for two more years to cover 5 crore households.