The government has raised subsidy amount for Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries from ₹200 to ₹300 per LPG cylinder, Union minister Anurag Thakur confirmed during a briefing on Cabinet decisions on Wednesday. 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.
Usage of traditional cooking fuels had detrimental impacts on the health of rural women as well as on the environment. The scheme was launched on May 1, 2016 in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ujjwala beneficiaries currently pay ₹703 per 14.2-kg cylinder as against the market price of ₹903. After the decision of the Union Cabinet, they will now pay ₹603.