News Excerpt:
Recently, the Union Cabinet approved the continuation of the targeted subsidy of ₹300 per 14.2 kg cylinder for up to 12 refills per year to be provided to the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) during FY25.
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What is a Subsidy?
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About the PMUY Scheme:
- In May 2016, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG), introduced the PMUY as a flagship scheme to make clean cooking fuel such as LPG available to rural and deprived households, otherwise using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, cow-dung cakes etc.
- The usage of traditional cooking fuels had detrimental impacts on the health of rural women as well as on the environment.
- The scheme was launched on 1st May 2016 in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh by the Prime Minister of India.
- The target under the scheme was to release 8 Crore LPG Connections to the deprived households by March 2020.
- Ujjwala 2.0: Additional allocation of 1.6 Crore LPG Connections under PMUY scheme with special facility to migrant households.
- The target number of connections under Ujjwala 2.0 was achieved during Dec '22, thus taking overall connections under the scheme to 9.6 Crore.
- The Government of India has approved the release of an additional 75 lakh connections under the PMUY Scheme, taking the overall target under the scheme to 10.35 Crore, against which connections are getting released now.
Current status of PMUY:
- As of March 1, 2024, there are more than 10.27 crore PMUY beneficiaries.
- The total expenditure will be ₹12,000 crore for FY25.
- The subsidy is credited directly to the bank accounts of the eligible beneficiaries.
- The average LPG consumption of PMUY consumers has increased by 29 percent from 3.01 refills in FY20 to 3.87 refills (till January 2024) prorated for FY24. All PMUY beneficiaries are eligible for this targeted subsidy.
- In October 2023, the government increased the targeted subsidy to ₹300 (from ₹200 earlier) per 14.2 kg cylinder for up to 12 refills per annum.
- As of February 1, 2024, the effective price of domestic LPG for PMUY consumers is ₹603 per 14.2 Kg LPG cylinder in Delhi.
