CCEA approves enhancement of target under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved to enhance target base of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) from 5 crore to 8 crore. The revised target of PMUY will be achieved by 2020 with an additional allocation of Rs. 4,800 crore. The decision comes in the wake of huge response to PMUY from the women particularly in rural areas and to cover such households not having LPG connection.

Genuine targeting of poor households

Besides, expanding target base of scheme, Cabinet also approved proposal to expand scheme to cover all SC/ST households, beneficiaries of Antyoday Anna Yojana (AAY), PMAY (Gramin), forest dwellers, most backward classes (MBC), Tea and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes, people residing in Islands and rivers etc. in addition to SECC identified households. This move will address practical difficulty faced in implementation of PMUY, namely, targeting genuinely poor households left out of Socio Economic Caste Survey (SECC) list.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

PMUY was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2016 with the tagline of Swachh Indhan, Behtar Jeevan. The scheme’s motive is to provide free of cost LPG (cooking gas) connections to women from BPL Households. Through it, cash assistance is given to beneficiaries to get a deposit-free new connection
The scheme aims to empower women and protect their health by shifting them from traditional cooking based on unclean cooking fuels or on fossil fuels to clean cooking gas. It is first social welfare scheme implemented by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2018