Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PM UJJWALA Scheme
Mains level: Outcomes of the Scheme
Greater penetration and usage of LPG as a cooking fuel is estimated to have prevented at least 1.5 lakh pollution-related premature deaths in the year 2019 alone, according to the first independent impact assessment of the government’s flagship Ujjwala program.
About the PM Ujjwala Yojana
- Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched in 2016, with the aim to provide Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections to five crore women members of below poverty line (BPL) households in the first phase.
- he scheme was expanded in April 2018 to include women beneficiaries from seven more categories (SC/ST, PMAY, AAY, Most backward classes, tea garden, forest dwellers, Islands).
- In the second phase the target was expanded to eight crore LPG connections.
Why was this scheme launched?
- Indoor air pollution is also responsible for a significant number of acute respiratory illnesses in young children.
- Providing LPG connections to BPL households will ensure universal coverage of cooking gas in the country.
- This measure has empowered women and protected their health. It reduced drudgery and the time spent on cooking.
- It will also provide employment for rural youth in the supply chain of cooking gas.
Ujjwala 2.0
- Under Ujjwala 2.0 migrant workers would no longer have to struggle to get address proof documents to get the gas connections.
- Now migrant workers would only be required to submit a self-declaration of their residential address to get the gas connection.
- Along with a deposit-free LPG connection, Ujjwala 2.0 will provide the first refill and a hotplate free of cost to the beneficiaries.
Significance of Ujjwala 2.0
- LPG infrastructure has expanded manifold in the country due to the Ujjwala scheme.
- In the last six years, more than 11,000 new LPG distribution centres have opened across the country.
- The LPG coverage in India is now very close to becoming 100 per cent.
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