Government meets PMUY target of 1.5 crore LPG connections

The Union Ministry for Petroleum & Natural Gas has met the 1.5-crore target for LPG connections that were to be added under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in the 2016-17 financial year.
This Target was achieved within a span of less than eight months since the launch of the scheme which is implemented across 35 States/UTs.

Key Facts

• Since the launch of the PMUY, the LPG coverage across the country has increased to 70% as of December 1, 2016 from earlier 61% as of January 1, 2016.
• Top five States with highest number of LPG connections are: Uttar Pradesh (46 lakh), West Bengal (19 lakh), Bihar (19 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (17 lakh) and Rajasthan (14 lakh). These states constitute nearly 75% of the total connections released.
• 14 States/UTs with LPG coverage less than the national average. They are J&K, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and all North-East States. They have been identified as priority States for implementing PMUY.
• The households belonging to SC/ST constitute the large chunk of beneficiaries of this scheme with 35% of the connections being released to them. 

About Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) 

• The scheme provides free LPG connection with financial assistance of Rs. 1600/- per connection to an adult woman member of BPL family identified through Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data.
• It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2016 from Balia, Uttar Pradesh. PMUY is the first welfare scheme being implemented by the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
• The tagline of scheme is Swachh Indhan, Behtar Jeevan. It seeks to empower women and protect their health by shifting them from traditional cooking based on unclean cooking fuels or fossil fuels to clean cooking gas.
• It is being implemented over three years’ time frame i.e. in the FY 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 with budgetary allocation of allocated Rs, 8,000 crore announced in the Union Budget 2016.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2016