LPG Cylinder Subsidy: Last week, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman not only announced an excise duty cut in petrol and diesel prices, she also notified another significant decision by the government that would benefit crores of citizens. The central government, in a relief to several households that are pressured due to the ever-rising rates of inflation, announced an LPG subsidy to crores of households that are registered under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana that is aimed to provide LPG subsidy to poor households.
LPG Subsidy Announcement
Announcing a slew of decisions, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on May 21, that is last Saturday, said, “Also, this year, we will give a subsidy of Rs 200 per gas cylinder (upto 12 cylinders) to over 9 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. This will help our mothers and sisters. This will have a revenue implication of around Rs 6100 crore a year.” The PM Ujjwala scheme was discontinued in June 2020 due to the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Latest Price of LPG Cylinder
Both domestic and commercial cooking gas has seen a series of price hikes in the past few months. A 14.2-kg LPG cylinder costs Rs 1,003 in the national capital. Now, after the latest government decision, for Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries, a subsidy of Rs 200 per cylinder will be given to them in their bank accounts. This means, the price of a domestic LPG cylinder will be Rs 803 per unit.
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What is Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana?
According to the PMUY website, “In May 2016, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG), 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.”
The programme aims to give clean cooking fuels or LPG cylinders at subsidised rates to poor households. As on April 25, about 9.17 crore LPG connections had been released under the scheme, according to the PMUY’s website.
LPG Cylinder Subsidy: PMUY Eligibility Criteria
According to the PMUY website, the Eligibility Criteria for the scheme are —
– An adult woman belonging to SC households, ST households, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin), most-backward classes, Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), tea and ex-tea garden tribes, forest dwellers, people residing in islands and river islands, SECC households (AHL TIN), poor household as per 14-point declaration.
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– Applicant must have attained 18 years of age.
– There should not be any other LPG connections in the same household to get LPG cylinder subsidy.
