Report Card: LPG prices and PMUY

Accessibility of a LPG cylinder was a big challenge during Congress-led UPA regime. Black marketing coupled with lack of political will to provide LPG to every household ensured that 50% of the nation remains deprived of LPG.

Speaking on the issue, Renuka Choudhary, the then MP of ruling Congress had commented in 2012, “do you think LPG is used by poor?” This way, she was justifying Rs 900 price of LPG. That was the level of commitment of Cong-led UPA regime which hardly cared for deprived & downtrodden sections of society.

In recent months, a concerted campaign is being run to build fake narratives about the usage of LPG cylinders. It is being propagated that poor people who got supply of these LPG cylinders are not using it anymore. And, this is being done at the behest of some Opposition MPs.

So it was very important to do a Fact Check of the same. As I went into details and saw data clearly, we found that Congress is not in touch with masses and has no idea of reality.

In total contrast to UPA to make LPG cylinders available in every household, in May 2016 PM introduced the ‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’ (PMUY) as a flagship scheme with an objective to make clean cooking fuel such as LPG available to the rural and deprived households which were otherwise using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, cow-dung cakes etc.

Usage of traditional cooking fuels had detrimental impacts on the health of rural women as well as on the environment.

Total LPG connections released under Pradhan Mantri as on July 2022 stands at 93,426,689 that is 9.3 Crore.

As a result, LPG Coverage has gone up from 62% to 99.8% as on 1st April 2021

Its also important to note that as of July 1, the total domestic LPG consumers across the country stood at 30.95 crore. This includes 9.3 Crore PMUY connection.

The data released shows about 2.11 crore domestic LPG consumers did not take refill in FY22 (4 Months). This accounts for around 7 per cent of the total 30.53 crore consumers (as on April 1, 2022), Parliament was informed.

The per capita consumption of PMUY beneficiaries (9.3 crores) also increased from 3.01 in FY20 to 3.66 in FY22. 5.41 crore beneficiaries took 4 or less refills.

Ujjwala has ensured health, savings and opportunities for our mothers and sisters and led them to the doors of empowerment. Modi govt is taking several measures to boost Ujjwala uptake, including inducing behavioural change.

The government has announced a targeted subsidy of ₹200 per 14.2 kg cylinder for PMUY beneficiaries for up to 12 refills a year for the year 2022-23. Swap option to 5kg from 14.2kg, and up to three free refills under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) from April to December 2020.

Replying to @PChidambaram_IN Cabinet Minister Dharmendra Pradhan ji tweeted:
By being ignorant to facts, @PChidambaram_IN saheb is only exposing the decades of Congress apathy towards the poor.

The more Chidambaram ji speaks on the welfare schemes of the Modi govt, the more mud he will sling on the legacy and historic failures of his Party.

A shoulder of support for women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• 20 crore women received over Rs 30,000 crore in their Jan Dhan accounts between April-June 2020.

• 14 crore LPG cylinder refills delivered free of cost under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana.

PMUY Phase II

Further, under Phase-II of PMUY (Ujjwala 2.0), in addition to deposit free LPG connections, all PMUY beneficiaries are provided free first refill and stove as well.

As on July 1, 2022, the oil marketing companies (OMCs) have released 1.35 crore LPG connections under Ujjwala 2.0. Besides,

In Rajya Sabha to a question asked by Prof Manoj Kumar Jha, Minister Rameshwar Teli replied that during COVID-19 pandemic, a scheme for providing up to t3 free-of-cost LPG refills to PMUY beneficiaries was started for three months from 1 April 2020 under PMGKP, to ease the hardships faced by the poor due to economic disruption caused by the pandemic.

The scheme was extended till 31 December 2020 for those beneficiaries who had been credited with the advance for buying refill, but could not buy the refill. Under this Scheme, 141.7mn free refills were provided across the country, the minister says.

But there are those blinded by the compulsion to mislead often indulge in fake news and lies. Today, the LPG revolution is helping household to have smoke free homes. This along with time saving in cooking and collecting firewood is helping them to spend the saved time productively.

Year LPG Price Government Global Prices
2011 877 UPA
2012 922 UPA
2013 1021 UPA
2014 1241 UPA/NDA
2015 606 NDA
2016 584 NDA Ujjwala
2017 747 NDA
2018 609 NDA
2019 695 NDA
2020 594 NDA Lockdown
2021 834 NDA
2022 1053 NDA Russia War

Also, its important to note here that ‘Give-It-Up’ Campaign on LPG subsidy by Prime Minister received massive public support & 1 crore citizens gave up their subsidy for people who need it the most. This also shows popularity and support for this scheme in India.

It’s important to note that Global Prices are not going to come down any time sooner. Credit Suisse Group AG predicts that the Russian gas deficit will lead to an annual global LNG shortage of nearly 100 million tons by the middle of the decade.

The Russian Ukraine war has created immediate humanitarian crisis, the conflict triggered an increase in oil and gas prices that is throwing every nation into a crisis. It’s hurting consumers and putting pressure on world leaders.