The use of LPG is more common in India’s urban and semi-urban areas. The majority of the rural people, as well as BPL families, continue to cook their meals on fossil fuels. The use of fossil fuels puts the women in these families at risk of major health problems. Open fire in the kitchen, according to specialists, causes as much damage as smoking 400 cigarettes in an hour. Children’s respiratory problems are also caused by indoor air pollution. Air pollution and deforestation are also consequences. Under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in May 2016 to solve the above issue.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’s (PMUY) Goals:
Contents
- To encourage women’s empowerment.
- To supply a nutritious source of cooking fuel.
- To avoid health risks associated with the use of fossil fuels.
PMUY’s features include the provision of 5 million LPG connections to BPL families.
- For each LPG connection provided to BPL families, a cash assistance of Rs.1,600 will be provided.
- An EMI facility for the stove and refill costs will be provided (Interest-free loan).
- The government will cover the administrative cost of Rs.1,600 for LPG installation.
- The program complements Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Give It Up Campaign,’ in which a large number of middle-class households have willingly given up their cooking gas subsidy.
Pradhan’s Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries
Pradhan’s Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) is a government scheme. The scheme’s primary beneficiaries are women from low-income families who do not have access to LPG in their homes. The government first covered the following categories under the scheme:
- List of beneficiaries in the SECC 2011 list All SC/ST’s households beneficiaries of the Pradhan -PMAY stands for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin)
- Anna Yojana Antoyoday (AAY)
- Dwellers in the Wood
- The majority of backward classes (MBC)
- Tea Garden Tribes and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes
- Residents of river islands and islands
- The scheme’s benefits have been extended to residents in hilly states, notably the North-Eastern (NE) states, by classifying them as “priority states.”
Criteria for PMUY Eligibility
- The applicant must be a lady of at least 18 years of age.
- The applicant must be a rural resident and have a BPL card.
- To obtain the subsidy, the applicant must hold a savings bank account in one of the nationalised banks.
- The applicant’s household must not already be connected to an LPG supply.
PM Ujjwala Yojana Documents Required
To apply for the plan, you’ll need the following documents:
- Ration card for the BPL.
- Authorized BPL Certificate (signed by the Panchayat Pradhan/Chairman of the Municipality).
- Aadhar Card/Voters ID are acceptable forms of photo identification.
- A passport-sized image was taken recently.
PMUY Implementation Process
- A woman from a BPL family who does not have access to LPG must apply to the LPG distributor for a new connection in the prescribed format.
- When requesting for a connection, the applicant must supply information such as their address, bank account number, and Aadhar card number (Incase the applicant does not own an Aadhar card, efforts will be made for coordination with UIDAI to issue Aadhar card to the applicant).
- Officials from the LPG fuel companies will cross-reference the information submitted with the SECC – 2011 database to confirm the family’s BPL status and enter the information into a dedicated portal provided by the Oil Marketing Companies (OMC).
- The de-duplication process and other due diligence measures will be carried out electronically by OMCs.
- The OMCs will grant the LPG connection once all of the aforementioned stages have been completed.
- The government is responsible for the connection fees. The OMCs, on the other hand, will give the applicant an EMI option, which would be deducted from the monthly subsidy payable to the applicant.
- If the state government, a non-profit organization, or an individual want to contribute to the cost of the stove and/or the first refill, they may do so; however, they must do so only under the terms of the specified scheme, i.e., under the canopy of PMUY.
- The OMC’s extensive Melas will also be used to release new connections at various areas.
- Depending on the field conditions, the scheme will cover BPL families under all forms of distributorship and for various cylinder sizes.
- Refills of up to three 14.2 kg cylinders and an advance of the Retail selling price will be transferred by the OMC to the PMUY customer’s bank account, which can be withdrawn to acquire refill from the distributor, as part of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana scheme for PMUY beneficiaries.
- This plan was designed to help PMUY clients deal with the COVID-19 situation. The program was valid through September 30, 2020. However, after considering the benefits of the scheme, it was announced in Budget 2021 that the scheme would be extended to cover one crore more people.
Related Posts
What Is Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) And What Are It’s Highlights?
