In news– Himachal Pradesh has become the first ‘smoke-free state’ in India recently.
Key updates-
- This milestone was achieved due to the effective implementation of Central Governments’ Pradhan Mantri ‘Ujjwala Yojana’(PMUY) and ‘Himachal Grihini Suvidha Scheme’ of the Himachal Pradesh government.
- Further, the Himalayan state has also become the 100 percent LPG-enabled state in the country.
- It is important to note that, traditionally cooking food was done on ‘Chullah’ by lightning woods and fuel, which not only leads to health problems but also creates pollution.
- To address this serious concern, Ujjwalla Yojna was started by the Central government with the view to free the people of the country from indoor pollution.
- The Himachal Pradesh government also started the Grihini Suvidha Yojana to benefit as many people as possible, under the scheme.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana(PMUY)-
- Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is a scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas for providing LPG connections to women from Below Poverty Line (BPL) households.
- The scheme was launched by the Prime Minister of India on May 1, 2016 from Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh to provide clean cooking fuel to poor households and the target to provide Eight crore deposit free LPG connections was achieved in September, 2019.
- It aims to safeguard the health of women & children by providing them with a clean cooking fuel – LPG, so that they don’t have to compromise their health in smoky kitchens or wander in unsafe areas collecting firewood
- Release of LPG connection under this Scheme shall be in the name of the women belonging to the BPL family.
- To cover remaining households under PMUY, Ujjwala 2.0 was started on 10th August, 2021 on pan India basis to provide additional one crore LPG connections.
- In the Union Budget of 2021-2022, the government announced that 1 crore more connections will be provided under this scheme.
Further reading: https://journalsofindia.com/ujjwala-2-0/
Source: AIR
