• S.K. Nigam

On December 30, 2023, at 12:46 pm, as soon as Shri Rahul Gandhi tweeted “Picture of the plight of the poor in front of the Shahenshah's statue with a cylinder”, Prime Minister Modi was seen, just within a few hours, in Ayodhya, making efforts to control political damage only during his extremely busy religious schedule. Amidst the media's praise-filled broadcasts, he hastily reached the house of Meera Manjhi, the beneficiary selected as the 10 croreth beneficiary of Ujjwala Yojana, and had tea with her. It is worth noting that in this entire incident, Modi ji spoke to the mere day-old beneficiary in his familiar emotional style. The message he tries to convey by acknowledging the benefits of the scheme is in stark contrast to what the beneficiaries have experienced over the years.

‘Ujjwala Scheme’ was started in Modi government on May 01, 2016, from Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. Under this scheme, 8 crore LPG cylinders were to be given free of cost to poor families by March 2020. The government had a target of Rs. 8 crore sand it was achieved in September 2019 itself. After this, Ujjwala Yojana 2.0 was started from August 10, 2021, to provide one crore additional connections. According to the official website of the scheme https://www.pmuy.gov.in/ by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, a total of 10 crore eighty eight thousand nine hundred seventy seven (10,00,88,977) free cooking gas connections have been distributed by December 30, 2023. Under this, crores of gas connections and gas-filled cylinders were given to poor families but now those cylinders are lying empty in the kitchens of those poor people without gas. According to information obtained through RTI from oil marketing companies, a report in the newspaper ‘The Hindu’ states that, 90 lakh beneficiaries of the Ujjwala scheme never got their cylinders filled again in the financial year 2021-22. At the same time, about one crore people got their cylinder filled only once. Last year, an RTI activist Chandrashekhar Gaur had sought this information from Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation. Indian Oil Corporation has said in its reply that out of all the connections given by them till March 2021, 65 lakh consumers did not get their cylinders refilled in the financial year 2021-22, while 9.1 lakh of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and 15.96 of Bharat Petroleum Corporation did not get their cylinders refilled in the financial year 2021-22. Lakhs of consumers did not get their cylinders filled. Whereas the number of consumers who have filled the cylinder only once was 52 lakh in Indian Oil Corporation, 27.58 lakh in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and 28.56 lakh in Bharat Petroleum Corporation.

According to the government data presented in the Lok Sabha, LPG consumption under the Ujjwala scheme has been 3.67 refills per connection annually. During the Covid pandemic, from approximately April 2020 to December 2020, cylinders were filled three times for free under the scheme. The Union Petroleum Ministry had said in response to a question in the Lok Sabha that about 14.17 crore beneficiaries had got their cylinders filled for free during the Covid pandemic. Under the Ujjwala scheme, the government also transfers money to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries for purchasing gas. 15 days after the first cylinder instalment is credited to the account, the second cylinder instalment is also sent to the beneficiary. However, many irregularities have also been exposed in the Ujjwala scheme. According to a report of ‘Dainik Bhaskar’, the people of the gas agency are usurping the benefit of the subsidy money. Similar complaints are being received from the supply department to the administrative officials and women are still forced to cook food on the stove. The increase in the prices of LPG is also considered to be a major reason for this.

The claims of Modi government present a golden picture of many of its schemes. But sometimes the reality is dark. Minister of State for Oil and Natural Gas, Rameshwar Teli, while answering a question in the Parliament, said that 4 crore 13 lakh people who got LPG connections under the Ujjwala scheme, took the LPG cylinder but never got them refilled. The main goal of this scheme is to stop carbon emissions and encourage the use of clean fuel. But despite this, today there are many states where, despite the Ujjwala scheme, a large number of women are still using traditional fuel. West Bengal is prominent among such states, where more than 60 percent people use traditional fuels like wood, cow dung cakes and other resources, that is, only 40 percent people are using clean fuel. Whereas Maharashtra is at first place in terms of using clean fuel. Subsidized LPG cylinder rates increased by 82% between January 2018 and March 2023, from Rs. 495.64 in January 2018 to Rs. 903 in March 2023.In view of rising inflation and low consumption of cylinders, the Central Government had announced on May 21, 2022, to give a nominal subsidy of Rs. 200 on LPG cylinders to Ujjwala beneficiaries. After which there was a spurt in booking of Ujjwala Yojana gas cylinders, but not as much as the government had expected. It is worth noting that on the first of August 2022, there was a slight reduction in the prices of LPG gas cylinders. Meanwhile, the government said in a written reply in the monsoon session of Parliament that 4.13 crore people have not got the cylinders under Ujjwala scheme refilled. Minister of State for Petroleum Rameshwar Teli, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, said that 7.67 crore beneficiaries have got the Ujjwala Yojana cylinder refilled once. Congress leader Shri Mallikarjun Kharge had asked for information related to the beneficiaries of Ujjwala scheme, in reply to which Rameshwar Teli said that between the year 2017-18, 46 lakh beneficiaries of Ujjwala scheme have not refilled even a single cylinder. According to Minister of State for Petroleum Rameshwar Teli, 1.24 crore people during 2018-19, 1.41 crore during 2019-20, 10 lakhs during 2020-21 and 92 lakh people did not refill their LPG cylinders during 2021-22. The government said that during 2018-19, 2.90 crore beneficiaries had got their refill done once, in 2019-20, 1.83 crore people had got their refill done only once.

It has been eight years since the Ujjwala scheme was brought for the poor in the country. Regarding Ujjwala scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentions it in almost every rally. Whenever Modi government is asked what it has done for the poor, this free Ujjwala scheme is repeatedly cited. ‘Ujjwala Yojana’ is said to be one of the schemes that achieved its goals the fastest, which has been launched twice, however, due to the expensive price of cylinders, questions have been raised on this scheme many times. On the contrary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi often criticizes Congress for providing cheap cylinders in the states ruled by it in his election rallies and speeches. In a speech he even said that avoid those political parties which distribute ‘Rewaris’. Whereas due to the wrong policies of the Modi government and inflation, it has come to light that the beneficiaries are not getting full benefits. In such a situation, it is very important to know the reason why crores of people or we can say almost half of the consumers have not got the cylinders refilled. The secret of which is being exposed by Modi Ji's ministers themselves, that what happened to all the claims that were made regarding Ujjwala? Like other schemes of the Modi government, due to the policy failure of the Ujjwala scheme, crores of cylinders are still lying empty in lakhs of poor houses. Since this is a very serious matter and it cannot be denied that even after having such a multi-ambitious scheme, if the poor women of the country have to cook food in smoke, then it is a big question on the implementation of the Ujjwala scheme.

(The author is a Writer and Political Analyst)