The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved to enhance of the target of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) from five crore to eight crore 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. The revised target of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) will be achieved by 2020.
While expanding the target, the Government has also addressed the practical difficulty faced in PMUY implementation, namely, genuinely poor households left out of Socio Economic Caste Survey (SECC) list. The Cabinet today approved to expand the Scheme to cover all SC/ST households, beneficiaries of PMAY (Gramin), Antyoday Anna Yojana (AAY), 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.
The Government does not only announce schemes but is committed to their time-bound implementation. Under the PMUY, the original target was to release 3 crore connections by the end of FY 2017-18, but as a result of efficient scheme implementation and monitoring, more than 3.35 crore connections have been released till date across all States/UTs, largely benefitting SC/ST communities. In all, more than 4.65 crore applications have been received.
In order to ensure smooth implementation of the Scheme, as the number of applications touches the 5 crore mark and on account of huge response from women, particularly in rural areas, the Cabinet has decided to enhance the target from 5 crore to 8 crore with an additional allocation of Rs. 4800 crore.
Background
Government of India is committed to provide clean cooking fuel through LPG to all the uncovered households in the country. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in May 2016 through which cash assistance is given to the beneficiaries to get a deposit-free new connection, Initially, PMUY envisaged a target of 5 crore connections with an allocation of Rs. 8000 crore over a period of 3 years starting from FY 2016-17. This is a part of the Government's overall focus on ensuring energy access to all. Unelectrified villages are being electrified. To take the rural electrification vision forward, Saubhagya Yojana has been started to provide electricity connections to unconnected households and all households are likely to be covered by 31st December 2018. Over 28 crore LED bulbs have been distributed across India, both by Government and private agencies under the Mission Innovation Scheme of the Prime Minister.
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