Shreeya

PM SAUBHAGYA SCHEME
The Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (PM Saubhagya) expired on March 31,
2019, but its goal of nationwide electrification has yet to be met. The programme began in
September 2017 with the goal of electrifying all households by December 2018. This
deadline was pushed back to March 31, 2019, and the Centre finally announced that all
"willing" homes had received electrical connections. These connections will be financed
through the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) and the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya
Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) since the Saubhagya Scheme was not included in the most
recent Budget.
Strengths
Given its goal of achieving 100 percent household electrification, the Saubhagya Scheme
appears to be a major intervention.
 Its main strength is its commitment to reaching out to, approaching, and electrifying
every unconnected household, as well as ensuring "last-mile connectivity."
 It aims to provide connectivity at no cost, i.e. for free if the household falls into the
BPL category. Because it aims for universal coverage, others can take advantage of it
by paying Rs. 500, which will be repaid by DISCOMs in ten instalments of electricity
bills.
 It is heavily reliant on solar energy for off-grid connectivity and aims to power remote
hamlets with solar power packs of 200-300 Watts, an eight-hour battery backup, five
LED lamps, a DC fan, and a DC power plug, as well as a five-year repair and
maintenance service guarantee.
 As with its predecessors, it regards the Rural Electrification Corporation as the
national-level Nodal agency for scheme implementation and delegated the task of
collecting application forms, distributing bills, and collecting payments to other public
institutions and Panchayats.
Weaknesses
In addition to the strengths listed above, there are several weaknesses.
 The scheme aims to provide free electrical connections to low-income households, but
it does not ensure free electricity. It is the responsibility of the families to pay for it. In
rural and remote areas, where people continue to be victims of faulty metering and
other malpractices, the popularity of metered electricity supply is questionable unless
the masses are adequately educated and made aware of its use.
 There are concerns about DISCOMs inflating bills, which adds to people's reluctance
to get electrical connections. To address bill recovery concerns, the government is
considering pre-paid metering, but how far it would be operationally viable remains to
be seen.
 The ability of DISCOMs to provide continuous and high-quality supply would be
critical. At the moment, the majority of DISCOMs are financially unstable. Given the
political pressures to provide free/subsidized electricity to agricultural or domestic
 customers, load-shedding will continue, and 24 hours power supply to villages will
remain a pipedream.
Opportunities
The scheme also brings with it a variety of opportunities.
 It is widely regarded as a watershed moment that will assist the poor in eliminating
the use of candles and hazardous kerosene in lighting. Access to electricity would
alter household dynamics by increasing the length of productive time.
 It will make life easier for women and children, contributing to their improved
educational and health outcomes.
 It would also result in increased connectivity via radio, television, and mobile devices,
as well as increased public safety and job opportunities.
 Aside from increasing per capita electricity consumption, the scheme will assist India
in meeting its global climate change commitments. Substituting electricity for inferior
fuels would reduce GHG emissions and thus aid India's transition to a low-carbon
growth agenda.
Threats
 There is limited buying power in rural areas due to an imbalanced monsoon and poor
agricultural performance, but surprisingly, little is done to address the affordability
problem.
 It is feared that new connection holders under the scheme will be the poorest of the
poor, who may be connected once but may not maintain connection for an extended
period of time due to a lack of economic capacity to address the recurring burden of
electricity bills and thus face the risk of bill payment default.
 Given the nature of the consumer set, the tariff rates for these new connection holders
must be relatively subsidised. In such a case, either the states or the DISCOMs will
bear the subsidy burden.

PM UJJWALA YOJANA
PMUY was introduced in 2016 and is managed by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural
Gas' Oil Marketing Companies. PMUY aims to provide clean cooking fuel to low-income
households while also raising living standards. Initially, 5 crore below-poverty-line (BPL)
households were targeted for deposit-free LPG connections via PMUY by March 31, 2019.
This goal has been met.

Strengths
PMUY had become one of the most rapidly penetrating programmes by April 2017.
 The speed with which the scheme was implemented is commendable in light of the
fact that India currently has approximately 172 million LPG connections, which
effectively means that more than 10% of them were added in a single year through
this scheme alone.
  It is thanks, in large part, to a reorientation of the subsidy and improved targeting of
subsidies. The government was successful in weeding out millions of illegal/bogus
LPG connections through a massive de-duplication exercise. Unscrupulous dealers
were using these ties to redirect subsidised cylinders to commercial users.
 The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) process, which allows the LPG subsidy amount to
be transferred directly to the beneficiary's Aadhar-enabled account, assisted in the
removal of bogus beneficiaries, saving valuable government resources.
 On this score, the savings have clearly bolstered the government's coffers. During
FY15 and FY16, the government saved approximately Rs 21,000 crore. Similarly, the
government saved Rs 6,443 crore in 2015-16, when the average subsidy was Rs
150.82 per cylinder.
Weaknesses
 The challenge could be a sustained increase in the subsidy load on the government as
a result of the increase in subsidised customers.
 India has surpassed Japan to become the world's second largest importer of LPG.
According to the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell, LPG imports in the country
rose by 23 percent to approximately 11 million tonnes during the fiscal year 2016-
2017. One of the reasons for the rise in LPG consumption in India is the availability
of free gas connections and an increasing number of subsidised cylinders.
 Another significant challenge is the inadequacy of supply of gas cylinders to
beneficiaries due to a weak micro-level implementation mechanism. The much-
publicized PMUY has also had issues with mismatching the pledge with
implementation.
 Two examples should suffice to explain the situation. First, Indian-Asia News Service
reported in July 2017 that, based on data obtained from Indian Oil Corporation Ltd
(IOCL) via RTI, the government has failed to provide even a single LPG connection
under its flagship scheme in six out of eight north-eastern states (PMUY). IANS
obtained the information from Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) through an RTI
application (Indo Asian news service in May). According to the RTI response, "not a
single family has benefited from the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in
states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and
Sikkim as of May 8, 2017."
Opportunities
 It's especially credible that the government didn't rest on its past glories after the
Ujjwala Program's early success and instead tried to take it to the next level.
 The flagship programme, PMUY, is getting a facelift thanks to the participation of
private corporations and other people in a programme called 'PMUY Plus.'
 Many private businesses and individuals have expressed interest in participating in
this initiative. Private parties should pay for the subsidy amount targeted at BPL
families under PMUY Plus.
 The three oil marketing companies (OMCs) - Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan
Petroleum Corporation, and Bharat Petroleum Corporation - will form a society to
oversee the project.
Threats
 In the absence of authenticated data on the BPL population, identifying poor
households for free LPG connection is a major challenge. The use of Socio-Economic
Caste Census data can be readily abused by the wealthy.
 As a result, despite the best intentions of the government, the Program will continue
to be poorly targeted.
 Since the Aadhaar-based direct benefits transfer (DBT) system is being challenged in
court, transferring subsidies directly to oil companies may promote leakages in the
system by vested interest groups, at a substantial cost to the exchequer, raising
concerns about the future direction of LPG pricing and subsidy reform.

Reference –
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/87170/1/MPRA_paper_87170.pdf
http://ignited.in/I/a/242436
https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims
https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/saubhagya-scheme