Report card of PMUY after it completes two years

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has completed two years since it was launched under the leadership of prime minister Narendra Modi. It has been talked about as a scheme which provides free LPG connections to the underprivileged sections of the society. It has been touted by the government as a scheme which achieved much success over the two years it has been in operation. In this article, the performance of the PMUY scheme will be assessed with the pros and cons being mentioned in detail.

Image Source: www.pmujjwalayojana.in

On paper if you consider the performance of PMUY over the past two years, it seems like an overwhelming success. The statistics provided by the government indicate that a significant section of population that is currently below the poverty line has reaped the rewards of the scheme and is using LPG connections for cooking instead of the other resources that have hazardous health effects as well. The aim of the government via the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana scheme was to provide PG connections to 50 million women that belong to poor households across the country. The states that have benefited most from this scheme are Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

If we take a look at the data provided by the Uttar Pradesh government, it says that it distributed more than the 40,440 connections that it was supposed to in Amethi. In fact, the number of LPG connections distributed in the district was 63,294. Also as per the figures provided by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, out of the 32.2 million connections that were provided by the government in the period 2016–17, 20 million was through the PMUY. The scheme has also proved to be successful for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it helped them stake a clean sweep in the legislative assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The success stories of the scheme have been spread far and wide by the government but the truth is that the increase in usage of LPG connection in below poverty line households is not a huge number. Many of the beneficiaries of the scheme have not opted for refills after the first LPG connection was exhausted. If the years 2015–16 and 2016–17 are compared, the increase in the LPG consumption was only 0.8% and the increase in LPG customers was recorded at 6%.

But as far as refilling of an existing LPG cylinder is concerned, most households do not opt for it as the cost of refilling is close to Rs.450. These households instead of refilling an LPG cylinder go for much cheaper options in the form of kerosene which is available in the market at Rs.20 per litre or firewood. The government allows a PMUY beneficiary to pay for the LPG cylinder and the first refill in installments but the facility cannot be availed since second refill onwards.

Recently steps have been taken to tackle this issue with the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) deferring loans till the sixth refill of the PMUY beneficiary only if the LPG cylinder is the first one that they bought. It is an initiative by the government so that more and more households across the country opt for LPG cooking fuel instead of other hazardous ones.

Talking about the success of PMUY after it has completed to years in operation is a tricky subject. On one hand it has made the availability of LPG more easier than ever but it also encountered a number of problems along the way such as the refilling issue which was mentioned earlier. Overall the initiative taken by the NDA government can be lauded despite the many difficulties it has faced.