After the flagship “Standup India” scheme for Dalit entrepreneurs, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen Uttar Pradesh yet again to launch a Rs 8,000 crore scheme to give free cooking gas connection to poor women. “Five states – Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu – have contributed to 50 per cent of those who have given up the LPG subsidy”, said Pradhan. Prime Minister’s home state of Gujarat was way down the list with just 4.2 lakh giving up subsidies.
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Though the “Give-it-Up” campaign seeking the well-heeled to voluntarily surrender cooking gas subsidies for one year was launched in January, 2015, Mr Modi on March 27 last year officially launched the programme.
Pradhan said 61 per cent households in the country have LPG connections, while in Uttar Pradesh 53 per cent houses have gas connections. Consumers who have made a decision to give up their subsidies have to buy the product at the market price.
Over 1 crore people have given up their LPG gas subsidy ever since the government announced the scheme previous year. At present, consumers are now entitled to 12 cylinders of 14.2 kg each or 34 bottles of 5 kg each in a year at subsidised rates.
Earlier, Ministry officials had said they had accessed data from the Income Tax Department to identify three lakh people earning more than Rs. 10 lakh a year and had sent them SMSs saying they were no longer eligible for the LPG subsidy. “We have released 60 lakh new connection to poor in the last one year”, he said.
The DBT scheme, Give-it-Up campaign and the fall in crude oil prices led to a substantial fall in the Centre’s LPG subsidy bill in recent years.
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The government must also make clear at what LPG price point it is willing to reconsider giving back the subsidy to those who gave it up, he said.
