INTRODUCTION:

The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), a social welfare program backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's goal of a smoke-free rural India, was introduced by the Indian government in 2016. The program's initial goal was to offer discounted LPG hookups to every region in the nation. The impoverished in India have restricted access to cooking gas (LPG). LPG cylinders have been widely distributed in urban and semi-urban areas, primarily among middle-class and wealthier households. On the other hand, using fossil fuels for cooking has significant health risks. An estimated 5 lakh deaths in India alone are attributed to dirty cooking fuels, according to WHO estimates. Non-communicable illnesses like lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were to blame for the majority of these preventable fatalities. A considerable proportion of acute respiratory infections in young infants can also be attributed to indoor air pollution.

Experts claim that having an open fire in the kitchen is equivalent to smoking 400 cigarettes in a single hour. Giving BPL homes LPG connections will guarantee that cooking gas is available everywhere in the nation. This action will safeguard women's health and provide them more influence. It will cut down on labor-intensive tasks and cooking time. Additionally, it will give young people in rural areas jobs in the cooking gas supply chain. In addition to tackling air pollution, deforestation, and health issues, the Ujjwala Yojana will result in a rise in the use of LPG.

Ujjwala Yojana Scheme Objectives:

· The Ujjwala Yojana was created to reduce risks and health difficulties among millions of rural people owing to the use of fossil fuels.

· The Ujjwala Gas Scheme aims to empower women.

· The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was formed to offer nutritious cooking fuel.

The advantages of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana:

· By using clean-burning fuel, the Ujjwala Yojana has protected and empowered women, as well as their families. It has also prevented several acute respiratory infections and other illnesses.

· There are regularly health and safety risks, as well as occasional sexual harassment, for women who walk into the woods to gather firewood. Because of the LPG connections, this is much decreased.

· Research indicates that headaches, nausea, chronic bronchitis, and a variety of skin conditions are common complaints among users of solid biomass. The majority of rural women suffered from severe respiratory diseases and indoor air pollution.

· The ecosystem and forest cover both clearly benefit from the cessation of firewood consumption.

· Rural youth would be employed in the cooking gas supply chain as part of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. Gaining work in maintenance services and logistics is an added advantage.

· If a woman from a BPL household receives a subsidy in her account, her name will be used to release an LPG connection under the terms of the Ujjawala Scheme.

· Women save time when they use LPG because they don't need to gather and boil solid fuel. This cooking time can be used more wisely in other economic endeavors.

· In their free time, women in several communities established self-help organizations to participate in local business ventures.

How to Apply for the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana:

Candidates for the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana may apply if they meet the requirements listed below:

· The applicant needs to be a female who is older than eighteen. She needs to be an Indian citizen as well.

· She should be from a low-income family, and no one else in the house should have an LPG connection.

· The total monthly income of the household shall not surpass a specific threshold set by the UT/State Governments.

· The applicant's name must appear on the SECC-2011 list and coincide with the data listed in the oil marketing businesses' BPL database.

It is imperative that the candidate is not enrolled in any other comparable government program.

Execution of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Scheme:

· The LPG distributor will accept applications for new LPG connections from women residing in BPL households.

· The application form needs to have information about bank accounts, Aadhaar, ration cards, and KYC.

· The connection fees will be covered by the government, while OMCs will offer the new customer the opportunity to pay for the cooking stove and first refill through EMIs.

· In order to release links to BPL families, the OMCs will also host Melas at different venues.

· BPL families will be covered by the program for all distributorship types and cylinder sizes.

Concerning the PM Ujjwala Yojana 2.0:

· Launched in 2016, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is being expanded upon with PMUY Ujjwala 2.0.

· More households will have access to LPG connections thanks to Ujjwala 2.0. This especially applies to underprivileged and rural communities.

· The program targets homes that continue to use conventional cooking fuels, which have the potential to be hazardous to the environment and human health.

· Eligible beneficiaries of Ujjwala 2.0 receive financial assistance for obtaining an LPG connection, as well as a gas stove and cylinder.

· Women from families with incomes below the poverty line (BPL) are given priority in the program.

· Ujjwala 2.0 seeks to lessen indoor air pollution in order to enhance the health and wellbeing of households.

· The ecology benefits from the scheme as well. It lowers carbon emissions and deforestation brought on by conventional cooking techniques.

· The goal of Ujjwala 2.0 is to provide clean cooking fuel in more isolated and challenging-to-reach locations.

Ujjwala Scheme's pillars:

Through the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, the government sought to offer people with safe and accessible clean energy supplies, concentrating on three important pillars: affordability, accessibility, and adaptability.

1. Affordability: The majority of PMUY users come from low-income backgrounds, making it difficult for them to pay for the expensive LPG cylinder refills. In order to encourage women in homes to switch from using solid fuel in the traditional manner to cleaner, smokeless LPG fuel, the Indian government has taken action to address this issue by lowering the cost of LPG refills and ensuring continuous usage of LPG. The government has budgeted 8000 crores over three years to implement the various projects. A small number of government initiatives were:

· The process of recovering loans via subsidies.

· Refill options with a 5 kg cylinder are also available to lessen the financial load.

· Pradhan MantriGaribKalyan package includes a free refill system option.

2. Accessibility: The majority of PMUY recipients come from isolated and rural locations. The government has taken initiatives to improve accessibility, and in order to meet the PMUY aim, the warehouse should be situated no more than five kilometers from the recipients' residences. more than 6000 new LPG distributors are put into service. Making reservations for facilities via common service. expansion of the LPG reservation capacity. commissioning more plants for blotting.

3. Adaptability: After working with non-governmental organizations, a number of initiatives have been launched to raise awareness among the public through door-to-door canvassing, informing recipients of the advantages of the program and of utilizing LPG.

The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana's Challenges:

The government faced a number of difficulties when implementing the PMUY scheme:

· The inability to identify eligible homes based on correct data was a significant challenge in identifying impoverished households. The study employed the SECC-2011 data; nonetheless, it was determined that certain worthy homes need special attention during the fieldwork.

· It was discovered that some wealthy households have been mislabeled as BPL households by misuse of the SECC data. Because of this, it was challenging to verify the accuracy of the data in the SECC database.

· Beneficiaries, especially those from low-income and illiterate households, needed greater knowledge on the safety precautions that must be taken when cooking on an LPG stove.

· The requirement for ration cards and Aadhaar cards prevented many eligible households from participating in the programme.

Due to concerns with law and order or being designated as forest regions, the restricted distribution of LPG made it challenging to open distributorships in several places. As a result, homes in these areas were unable to obtain cleaner cooking fuel and continued to be cut off from the program.

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Received on 03.04.2024 Modified on 23.04.2024

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2024;15(2):153-155.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5828.2024.00022