Ujjawala Scheme UPSC, In May 2016, the ‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’ (PMUY) was launched by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG). The goal of this flagship program was to give impoverished and rural people access to clean cooking fuel, primarily LPG. Honorable Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi introduced the program in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, on May 1, 2016. A crucial subject for the UPSC IAS exam is Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). It covers current events of national importance in the UPSC Prelims Syllabus’ General Studies Paper-1 and a large portion of the Government Schemes section in the General Studies Paper-2 syllabus.
We will examine the goals, characteristics, advantages, and difficulties of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in this essay on the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana UPSC.
Contents
What is Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)?
The Ujjwala Yojana Scheme was introduced by the Union Government with the slogan “Swachh Indhan, Behtar Jeevan.” By 2019, the PMUY program seeks to eliminate smoking in rural India by offering five crore families, especially those with women below the poverty line (BPL), inexpensive LPG connections. The Ujjwala Yojana will address air pollution, deforestation, and health concerns while increasing the usage of LPG. The Ujjwala Scheme is carried out by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
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Objectives of the Ujjwala Yojana Scheme
The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) seeks to give households below the poverty line access to clean cooking fuel, particularly LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). By doing this, it aims to lessen the health risks that traditional cooking fuels like coal and wood provide, especially to women and children.
- Enhancement of Health: Lessen the risks to health posed by indoor air pollution from conventional cooking techniques.
- Empowerment of Women: By giving women access to clean cooking fuel, you can improve their health and dignity while cutting down on the amount of time they spend gathering firewood and cooking.
- Environmental Sustainability: Promote the use of cleaner fuels, such as LPG, to cut down on carbon emissions and deforestation.
Implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
Targeting households below the poverty line, the PMUY program was introduced through LPG distributors throughout India. Large-scale awareness campaigns, beneficiary registration, LPG connection issues, and the distribution of subsidized cylinders were all part of it.
- An application for a new LPG connection can be submitted to the LPG distributor by a woman from a BPL home.
- The application form should contain information about the bank account, Aadhaar, ration card, and KYC.
- After comparing the application with the SECC-2011 database, the LPG field personnel will connect the qualified recipients.
- The OMCs will provide the new customer the opportunity to choose EMIs to pay for the cost of a cooking burner and the first refill, while the government will cover the connection fees.
- In order to release connections to BPL families, the OMCs will also host Melas in different sites.
- The program will serve BPL families for a range of cylinder sizes and distributorship types.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Beneficiary List
To find potential beneficiaries under PMUY, additional categories have been introduced in addition to the SECC list. The following beneficiaries will now be part of the program in order to reach the higher goal:
- According to the 14-point declaration, poor households
- Candidates must be at least eighteen years old.
- Pradhan Most Backward Classes under the Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin)
- The Antyodaya Yojana Anna (AAY)
- Tribes of tea and former tea gardens
- SC Families
- ST Families
- Residents of River Islands and Islands
- SECC Families (AHL TIN) Forest Residents
- The same household shouldn’t have any other LPG connections.
- The women who belong to the BPL family would be the ones whose names are released when an LPG connection is made under this scheme.
Benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
Among its many benefits, PMUY significantly enhanced public health by lowering indoor air pollution and respiratory conditions, especially in women and children. In addition to improving health, it gave women more self-determination by releasing them from the tediousness of conventional cooking techniques, allowing them to participate in other worthwhile endeavors.
- By using clean-burning fuel, the Ujjwala Yojana has safeguarded and empowered women and their families, averting a number of acute respiratory conditions and other diseases.
- In addition to health and safety risks, women who travel to the woods to get firewood are occasionally the targets of sexual harassment. The LPG connections result in a large reduction in this.
- Solid biomass users often experience headaches, nausea, chronic bronchitis, and a variety of skin conditions, according to a study. The majority of rural women suffered from severe respiratory ailments and indoor air pollution.
- Reducing firewood consumption clearly benefits the ecology and forest cover.
- Young people from rural areas will also be employed under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in the cooking gas supply chain. Working in maintenance and logistical services is a bonus.
- A lady from a BPL household would get a subsidy in her account when an LPG connection is released under this Ujjawala Scheme in her name.
- Women save time by using LPG as it eliminates the need to gather and prepare solid fuel. This cooking time can be used more efficiently in other economic activities.
- In their free time, women in many villages established self-help organizations to participate in local business ventures.
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Challenges Faced by the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
Notwithstanding its achievements, PMUY faced challenges like guaranteeing last-mile connectivity to isolated and underserved communities, battling the cost of LPG refills for recipients, and overcoming the behavioral and cultural barriers related to switching from conventional cooking methods to LPG use. To overcome these obstacles and guarantee the efficacy and inclusivity of the program, creative solutions, ongoing observation, and focused interventions were needed.
- A significant obstacle was identifying low-income families since there was insufficient data to determine which households qualified. Although the SECC-2011 data was utilized, it was discovered that during the fieldwork, some worthy families needed to be identified.
- A few wealthy homes were mislabeled as BPL households, indicating misuse of the SECC data. Because of this, it was challenging to confirm the accuracy of the information in the SECC database.
- Beneficiaries, especially those from low-income and illiterate families, needed greater knowledge about the safety precautions to take when cooking on an LPG burner.
- The requirement for ration cards and Aadhaar cards prevented many worthy homes from being included in the program.
- Due to law and order concerns or the fact that some regions were designated as forest areas, the restricted reach of LPG distribution made it challenging to set up distributorships in those areas. As a result, residents in these areas were unable to get cleaner cooking fuel and continued to be cut off from the program.
About PM Ujjwala Yojana 2.0
Launched in 2016, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has been expanded into PMUY Ujjwala 2.0. The goal of Ujjwala 2.0 is to connect more homes to LPG. This is especially true for economically underdeveloped and rural communities.
Source: Railway Ministry
- The program targets homes that continue to use conventional cooking fuels, which can have negative environmental and health effects.
- Eligible recipients of Ujjwala 2.0 receive financial assistance to purchase a gas stove, cylinder, and an LPG hookup.
- Women from households below the poverty line (BPL) are given priority in the program.
- By lowering indoor air pollution, Ujjwala 2.0 seeks to enhance household health and well-being.
- Additionally, the plan benefits the environment. It lowers carbon emissions and deforestation linked to conventional cooking techniques.
- The goal of Ujjwala 2.0 is to provide clean cooking fuel to more isolated and challenging-to-reach locations.
- The program offers qualified recipients cash assistance. It pays for the price of the Gas stove, LPG hookup, and initial refill.
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Faq’s
Q. What is Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana?
Ans: With the goal of promoting clean cooking fuel and enhancing socioeconomic and health conditions, particularly for women in rural areas, the Government of India launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), a social welfare program that offers free LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) connections to households below the poverty line.
Q. On what date does the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana begin?
Ans: On May 1, 2016, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was introduced.
Q. What is the PM Ujjwala Yojana’s objective?
Ans: By giving women and children access to clean cooking fuel and lowering the health risks connected to conventional cooking techniques like wood or coal, the PM Ujjwala Yojana aims to protect their health. It also seeks to advance environmental sustainability and women’s empowerment.
Q. What is the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’s slogan?
Ans: “Swachh Indhan, Behtar Jeevan,” or “Clean Fuel, Better Life,” is Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’s motto.
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