PM Ujjwala Yojana

• The Union Cabinet has decided to extend the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) to 75 lakhs more consumers by providing them LPG connections over three years from 2023-24 to 2025- 26.
• Costing Rs 1,650 crore, this expansion will elevate the total number of PMUY beneficiaries to 5 million.
• The government announced this extension after reducing the price of cooking gas by Rs 200 across all markets last month.

ABOUT UJJWALA YOJANA

• It 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 originally launched on May 1, 2016, in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh by the Prime Minister of India with a target of releasing 8 crore connections by March 2020.
• During Ujjwala 1.0, a target was set to provide LPG connections to 5 crore women members of BPL households.
• Subsequently, the scheme was expanded in April 2018 to include women beneficiaries from seven more categories (SC/ST, PMAY, AAY, Most backward classes, tea garden, forest dwellers, Islands).
• The PMUY 2.0 was launched in the financial year 2021-22 making a provision for the release of additional one crore connections.