Introduction

The daily act of cooking has been a major health hazard for millions of women in India, especially in rural
areas, due to the use of traditional fuels.

Till 2014, about 100 million households in India were deprived of clean LPG fuel and used traditional
biomass fuels such firewood, dried cow dung, agricultural waste, charcoal etc. as cooking fuel. The toxic
smoke emitted by these fuels contains particulate matter and harmful chemicals that are harmful to eyes
and lungs, causing acute and chronic respiratory illness, such as pneumonia and chronic obstructive
pulmonary diseases. The smoke also contains carcinogenic elements causing lung cancer. Apart from
women, children also suffered from this harmful kitchen smoke.

According to Late Professor Kirk Smith, Professor of Global Environmental Health, University of
California, Berkeley, inhaling this harmful smoke is equivalent to smoking 400 cigarettes per hour.

Women and children also had to walk afar to collect firewood in remote and secluded places, which was
not only a strenuous task but also risky from the point of view of personal safety.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched to protect Indian women from this drudgery and
make their lives healthier.

Need for PMUY

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched with the aim to safeguard the health of women and
children by providing them with clean cooking fuel, so that they don’t have to compromise their health in
smoky kitchens.

The PMUY scheme was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi from Ballia district in
Uttar Pradesh on 1” May 2016. Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies were initially given a target of
providing deposit-free LPG connection to adult woman members of 5 Crore BPL households by 31 March
2019. Rs. 8000 Crore was allocated for the scheme.

The scheme target was subsequently revised to 8 Crore LPG connections, with an additional budgetary
provision of Rs. 4800 Crore.

Financial Support Under the Scheme

One of the constraints of using LPG on a sustained basis was the high upfront cost. To ease this constraint,
a cash assistance of Rs. 1600 per connection was provided to the beneficiaries by Government of India
(Gol) which covered the cost of a cylinder, pressure facility. Regulator, LPG hose, consumer card and
Installation charges for availing the connection. Besides this, an option for loan was also extended to the
beneficiaries to cover the cost of stove and first refill. A total of 6.24 Cr Households (78%) availed the loan
facility.
Why PMUY Flooped

“At the time of its launch, the Union petroleum minister had claimed that 8.8 crore connections would be
provided by November 2021. It was also claimed that 87 lakh connections have been provided in Bihar.
The Centre should disclose figures about refilling of cylinders as 90 percent of the beneficiaries are not
refilling because of the sharp rise in the prices of LPG cylinders,”.

The reports suggested that only 10 percent beneficiaries have been refilling the cylinders since the price
of cylinders has gone up sharply. “The Ujjwala scheme was launched in May 2016 when the cost of a
cylinder stood at Rs 425. The cost of a cylinder stands today at Rs 1,150 – nearly two and a half times more
even though the income of people remained the same,”.

The PMUY 2.0 was launched In financial year 2021-22 making a provision for release of additional one
crore connections.

According to the RTI replies, Indian Oil Corporation, for the connections released by them up till March
2021, 65 lakh customers have not refilled their connections during the last financial year. The figures for
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation are 9.1 lakh and 15.96 lakh.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation specified that the figure of 15.96 lakh is only for the connections released
up to September 2019, which was the first round of the Ujjwala yojana.

The number of customers who filled the cylinders only once for Indian Oil Corporation were 52 lakh, for
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation were 27.58 lakh and Bharat Petroleum Corporation were 28.56 lakh.

The Hindu said that while the scheme was started with a good intent it has inherent flaws which the
government has failed to address.

“The people are shocked to realise that they have pay the full amount even under the scheme for the
subsequent cylinders. The subsidy is not transferred into their accounts by the oil marketing firms. While
the firms claim that they have disbursed the subsidy we don’t know whether it reaches the beneficiaries
on time. The cylinders thus end up being used as show piece in their homes or sparingly used,”.

He further added that he has requested the committee to do a detailed study on the implementation of
the Ujjwala Yojana.