What Has the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Achieved So Far?
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NOTES
What Has the Pradhan Mantri targeting and delivery through schemes
such as PAHAL and the Give-it-up cam-
paign.2 While there have been some issues
Ujjwala Yojana Achieved So Far? such as differing claims on the actual
saving from schemes like PAHAL (CAG
2016), it is generally accepted that these
Ashwini Dabadge, Ashok Sreenivas, Ann Josey have helped reduce leakages in the LPG
delivery system. These reform measures
T
The central government’s flagship he Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and relatively lower crude oil prices pro-
programme to provide free (PMUY) was launched in 2016 to vide an opportunity for the concerted
distribute five crore liquefied petro- connection drive to translate to sustained
liquefied petroleum gas
leum gas (LPG) connections to poor adoption of LPG for many.
connections has been in operation women “free of cost” by March 2019. As It has been about two years since the
for two years, providing more than of early April 2018 more than 3.5 crore launch of PMUY, and it is a good time to
3.5 crore free LPG connections to connections were provided under the assess the programme and try to identify
scheme. Encouraged by the rapid release necessary course corrections, if any, to
poor women. This much-needed
of connections, the central government ensure that the programme’s objectives
scheme is a major step to reduce revised the target and scope of the scheme are met. This is also important because
indoor air pollution, drudgery to eight crore connections by March 2020. the programme involves a public invest-
faced by women, and one that Under the scheme, the union government ment of over `12,000 crore3 and it is nec-
bears the connection cost of `1,600 per essary to ensure that this investment
promises to extend LPG access.
connection, and each household pays realises its social objectives.
However, little is known about about `1,500 for the stove and the first
the progress of the scheme. Has it LPG cylinder. Assessing PMUY
led to sustained use of clean fuels The announcement of PMUY and the There are two levels at which PMUY can
recent increase of its target, marks a be assessed: the first is against the stated
among poor households? There is
significant shift in the government’s objective of disbursing connections, while
need for more information about approach to providing access to clean the second is against the intended objec-
the scheme in the public domain cooking fuels. For the first time, it chose tive of tackling the adverse health effects
for a comprehensive evaluation to aggressively pursue providing modern of using traditional solid fuels.
cooking fuels to all Indian households. On the first parameter, Table 1 shows
and mid-course correction.
This is an important step since house- the status of LPG connections in the coun-
hold air pollution (HAP) arising from try when PMUY was launched. Given that
combustion of solid fuels for cooking is 1.6 crore LPG connections were released to
a major contributor to four of the top below poverty line (BPL) households under
five causes of mortality and morbidity various state government schemes till
in India, and HAP is also a significant April 2016, it is evident that PMUY’s target
contributor to outdoor air pollution of five crore connections to poor house-
(IHME 2017; ICMR, PHFI, and IHME 2017; holds in three years is very ambitious, and
IIT Bombay, HEI and IHME 2018). Recent a major step to increase LPG connection
research suggests that providing clean coverage among poor households.
cooking fuels to all can be a highly cost- Table 1: Status of LPG Connections in the Country
effective health intervention (Smith and as on 1 April 2016
Sagar 2014; Prayas 2018). In addition, Parameter Total Urban Rural
Number of registered LPG
collection and use of solid fuels for cook-
connections in crore 20 – –
ing increases the drudgery and adversely Number of active LPG
impacts time-use by women (Desai and connections in crore 17 10 7
The authors are grateful to Veena Joshi and Vanneman 2016; Desai et al 2010). The Percentage of households
Srihari Dukkipati for their comments on a scheme also aims at addressing these with active LPG connections 62 118 36
Number of BPL households
draft version of this article. issues (PIB 2016b).1
covered under schemes sponsored
Ashwini Dabadge (ashwini.dabadge@prayaspune. The LPG sector has seen a wave of by state governments and
org), Ashok Sreenivas (ashok@prayaspune.org) schemes over the last few years targeted OMC CSR funds in crore 1.6 – –
and Ann Josey (ann@prayaspune.org) are with OMC=oil marketing company, CSR=corporate social
at various objectives such as eliminating responsibility.
Prayas (Energy Group), Pune.
spurious consumers, effective subsidy Source: Lok Sabha (2016b); PPAC (2016a).
Economic & Political Weekly EPW may 19, 2018 vol lIiI no 20 69NOTES In this regard, PMUY has broadly been undertaken by the OMCs. This is chal- should also be provided in a disaggregated on track. Over 70% of the target of five lenging for them, but also presents them manner (state, district, block) to help crore connections have been disbursed in an opportunity to significantly deepen address barriers to adoption. about two-thirds of the intended time. In their LPG market. To be able to assess Indeed, even at the national level (that fact, almost 60% of the new LPG domes- these dimensions of the programme, it is is, going beyond just PMUY beneficiaries), tic connections given across the country necessary to have access to fairly rich LPG consumption data is only disaggre- in 2016–17 were PMUY connections (PPAC data in the public domain. It is here that gated to the state level, but is not availa- 2017a). This encouraging start to the it becomes challenging to assess the ble along the crucial axis of urban and programme has prompted the govern- effectiveness of PMUY. rural households. Since over 85% of rural ment to increase the target to provide households used biomass, coal or kerosene three crore additional connections over Information Gaps (in comparison to about 25% of urban an additional year. PMUY connection data is provided only households) as their primary cooking fuel However, there have also been some at a state level and no district-wise according to the 2011 Census, it is clear concerns raised around identifying the disaggregation is available. In contrast, that this problem is primarily rural in beneficiaries under the scheme using the other government schemes such as the nature and therefore, a rural–urban Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC).4 Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti breakdown of overall LPG consumption This includes concerns around errors in Yojana (DDUGJY)5 and Pradhan Mantri and that of PMUY households is critical the SECC data and pressures from the Awas Yojana6 (PMAY) provide informa- to understanding progress in uptake of oil-marketing companies (OMCs) to meet tion about the progress of the respective modern cooking fuels. and exceed targets resulting in dilution schemes at the district and village level. Other relevant information, such as of beneficiary identification processes Progress is regularly tracked for the service quality related information (aver- (FLDI 2016a, 2016b). various programmes under the house- age time taken for providing connec- While Aadhaar-based “know-your-con- hold electrification scheme and infra- tions, average time for refills, proportion sumer” steps and bank account details structure development schemes such of consumers receiving home delivery of consumers are necessary to prevent as DDUGJY, Saubhagya, and Integrated services, instances of underweight cylin- spurious connections and LPG diversion, Power Development Scheme using local ders reported by distributors and con- they can be another barrier for poor house- representatives and updated on the resp- sumers, number of complaints received, holds as highlighted by studies (Parikh ective portals (MoP 2015, 2016). This complaints addressed, nature of the com- et al 2016). Some steps have been initiated makes it easier to assess the progress of plaints, etc) and safety-related informa- to coordinate Aadhaar applications with these schemes and provide feedback to tion (inspections conducted, accidents PMUY applications (MoPNG 2017a). Never- improve the programmes. reported, fatalities, compensation/insur- theless, significant efforts and time would The most important datapoint to ance claims settled, etc) are also not pub- be needed to extend connections to understand whether PMUY beneficiary licly available. This information should be poor households in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, households are using LPG regularly is the collated and made available for each dis- Rajasthan and some North East states, rate of LPG consumption by such house- tributor by the OMCs with aggregated which have Aadhaar coverage lower than holds. Such data is not reported on a reports at the state, district, and block than 88%, LPG coverage as a primary regular basis for all states. The only level for each type of distributor. fuel less than the national average, and information available for the rate of con- Considering that PMUY is a bold, new also relatively more socio-economically sumption for PMUY households is an initiative, it is to be expected that there deprived households in rural areas average estimate for consumption for would be some learning along the way (UIDAI 2018; MoRD nd). one year from the date of release of the and a need for course correction. Availa- Notwithstanding such concerns, it is connection. The average estimate for bility of detailed data about PMUY would fair to conclude that the objective of pro- the country, released by the Ministry of enable such a course correction. In the viding connections to poor households is Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) is absence of such information, PMUY can broadly being achieved. However, the 4.32 (14.2 kg) cylinders in the first year only be assessed based on indirect indi- real social objective of a scheme such as of adoption (Lok Sabha 2018). Estimates cators and scattered data available from PMUY can only be achieved if households for states with a rate of consumption various sources. This is attempted in the not only get LPG connections but use it higher than the average were also pro- next section, though the findings can for most, preferably all, of their cooking vided. However, it is not clear from this only be seen as indicative rather than needs on a sustained basis. Converting estimate whether households consistently firm, given the indirect methods used in connections to sustained use requires over- use the fuel after adoption. An estimate the analysis. coming a few barriers such as affordability, of number of refills from PMUY connec- reliability, accountability, and viability tions for every year, and not just the first Unrealistic Coverage (Dabadge et al 2016). year of adoption, would have been a more A connection-focused approach has re- A programme such as PMUY is also appropriate datapoint to analyse LPG use sulted in a few interesting anomalies. perhaps the largest ever social programme by PMUY households. The information According to data submitted in Parliament, 70 may 19, 2018 vol lIiI no 20 EPW Economic & Political Weekly
NOTES
Figure 1: Statewise Variations for Inactive Connections to the number of inactive connections
300 40%
that is evident and this is perhaps some-
Inactive connections as share of total
Active Connections 35%
250 thing that needs to be understood better.
Active connections (lakhs)
Inactive (%) 30%
200
Anomalous LPG Consumption
connections
25%
150 20% The possibility of a rapid increase in
100
15% connections leading to diversion is par-
10% tially reinforced by an analysis of LPG
50
5% consumption data per consumer across
0 0% different states for April to December 2017
Nagaland
Uttar Pradesh
Maharashtra
Punjab
Chandigarh
Sikkim
Meghalaya
Jammu and Kashmir
Delhi
Uttarakhand
Manipur
Assam
Andaman & Nicobar
Goa
Mizoram
Tripura
Gujarat
Telangana
Haryana
Madhya Pradesh
Daman and Diu
West Bengal
Dadra Nagar Haveli
Himachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Jharkhand
Puducherry
Odisha
Chhattisgarh
Kerala
Tamil Nadu
Karnataka
Bihar
Rajasthan
(Figure 2). Some of the potentially anoma-
lous points that emerge are that per-
consumer sales in Uttar Pradesh (73 kg)
are higher than the all-India average (72
kg); per-consumer sales in Bihar (73 kg)
Source: PPAC (2017a).
are higher than states such as Telangana
Figure 2: Average LPG Sales per Active Domestic Consumer, April–December 2017 (59 kg), Andhra Pradesh (60 kg), and
100
Per-consumer sales April-December 2017 Average Himachal Pradesh (67 kg) and per-con-
80 sumer sales in Rajasthan are similar to
kg per consumer
Tamil Nadu (70 kg). In contrast, according
60
to the Census of 2011, Andhra Pradesh,
40 Himachal Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu are
20 states that had a higher proportion of
primary LPG users in total households
0
while Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan
Maharashtra
Uttar Pradesh
Bihar
Chhattisgarh
Gujarat
Haryana
Jammu and Kashmir
Madhya Pradesh
Odisha
Punjab
Rajasthan
Tamil Nadu
Telangana
Uttarakhand
West Bengal
Andhra Pradesh
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala
Himachal Pradesh
had lower LPG users in total households.
Given the disparity in economic develop-
ment, and hence affordability of LPG,
Source: PPAC (2018).
across Indian states, the aforementioned
seems to indicate diversion of LPG. These
“active”7 LPG connections in urban India 2018–19 itself (MoPNG 2018). Although the numbers are also at odds with the results
in November 2015 (a few months before net of beneficiaries has been widened to of a study commissioned by the Petroleum
the commencement of PMUY) were al- include more households, such a move Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), which
ready more than the number of urban might only lead to a rush in achieving showed that around 90% of households
households in India (Lok Sabha 2016a). connection targets. This raises questions without LPG connections that were sur-
While connection coverage of a little about the effectiveness of a purely con- veyed in many districts of Bihar, Uttar
over 100% may be understandable as nection-focused approach. Pradesh, and Rajasthan cited the high
peri-urban LPG distributors may also be An interesting aspect of the LPG sector refill price of LPG as a barrier to using it
catering to some rural consumers, cover- is also that there are a significant num- (CRISIL 2016).
age of over 150% for urban areas in ber of consumers who are registered but However, it should be acknowledged
states such as Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, not “active.” As of April 2016, when PMUY the annual9 per-consumer consumption
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh indicates was launched, there were already 3.55 in Bihar (117 kg), which was higher than
that connection levels were already very crore “inactive” connections in the country the national average (106 kg) a few years
high even before PMUY commenced.8 Even (PPAC 2017a). This had increased to 3.58 ago (Lok Sabha 2016b), is now comparable
at the state level, recent connection data crore by April 2017 and 3.82 crore by to the national average, perhaps due to
indicates that it has exceeded 100% cov- January 2018 (PPAC 2017a, 2018). The initiatives such as PAHAL.
erage in states such as Punjab, Haryana, number of inactive connections is com-
Kerala, and Telangana (PPAC 2018). These parable to the total number of PMUY con- Design and Affordability
data suggest that connections do not nections released and accounts for 15% Various surveys indicate that the share
necessarily indicate that households are of the total registered connections in the of total registered LPG consumers who
moving away from using solid fuels for country. The number of inactive connec- use LPG as their primary cooking fuel
cooking, but that the connections are tions also shows wide variations across is about 60%10 (IIPS and ICF 2017; PPAC
possibly being used for other purposes. states (Figure 1). It varies from a high of 2016a): a percentage largely unchanged
Moreover, under PMUY, the union gov- about 35% in an urban area such as since 2011. This shows that many con-
ernment has the ambitious target of Chandigarh to a low of around 6% in sumers who could afford to pay for an
disbursing three crore connections in West Bengal. There is no obvious pattern LPG connection also could not transition
Economic & Political Weekly EPW may 19, 2018 vol lIiI no 20 71NOTES
Figure 3: Trends in LPG Consumption (2015–16 = 100) estimate. This is another indicator that
140 PMUY consumers are perhaps consum-
ing much less LPG than other Indian LPG
130
Active LPG consumers
consumers, pointing to issues of afford-
120 ability and reliability of service.
In addition to these indirect indicators
110
of PMUY consumers not shifting to sus-
Domestic LPG consumption per month
100
tained use of LPG, there have been vari-
ous field-visit-based media reports that
90 indicate that refill adoption is low among
LPG consumption per consumer per month
PMUY beneficiaries (Pandey et al 2017;
80
2015–16 2016–17 April– Malhotra 2017; Kishore 2017; Jha 2017).
December 2017
Thus, in spite of the official figure of
Source: PPAC (2016a, 2017a, 2018).
about 80% of PMUY beneficiaries opting
to being primary LPG users. High upfront the use of LPG. This is a crucial parameter for at least one refill (Lok Sabha 2018), it
costs and high refill costs are both cited to track and it would affect the sustain- appears that the number of refills are far
as the reasons for not using LPG by ability of the programme. from sufficient to meet the cooking
roughly 85% of households surveyed in needs of the household.
CRISIL (2016). Trends in Consumption
Under PMUY, beneficiaries have the Since the launch of PMUY, overall domestic LPG Distribution
option of getting the cooking stove and LPG consumption in the country has The LPG distributor is the customer’s link
first LPG cylinder from the OMCs via the shown an upward trend. The average to the LPG supply chain. Thus, unless the
LPG distributor on an interest-free equated monthly domestic LPG sales increased distributor is able to function effectively
monthly instalment (EMI) basis (PIB from 1.4 million tonnes (MT) in 2015–16, and is held accountable for their servic-
2016a). The EMIs are expected to be re- to 1.6 MT in 2016–17 and 1.7 MT during es, the ambitious programme to supply
covered from subsidies on future cylinder the period April–December 2017 (PPAC LPG to a large number of unserved or un-
refills. This leads to a structural problem. 2016a, 2017a, 2018). However, the num- derserved households is unlikely to fruc-
Since stove and associated expenses cost ber of active LPG connections has gone tify. Lessons from the electricity sector
around `1,500 and the subsidy per refill up much faster during the same period can be valuable in ensuring mid-course
is in the range of around `200 to `300, it due to the rapid disbursement of connec- correction. Concerted drives to increase
would take five to seven refills for the tions under PMUY. As a result, the per- access to electricity across the globe re-
loan to be repaid. During this period, consumer consumption of LPG has re- lied on financially viable and healthy
beneficiaries are expected to pay the full duced over time from 9.1 kg per month utilities (Barnes 2007).
unsubsidised price of the refill. Since in 2015–16 to 8 kg per month in 2017. The PPAC-commissioned study had
PMUY beneficiaries would typically be This is illustrated in Figure 3. identified that the distance to the LPG
poor households, they would find it ex- This suggests that LPG consumption of distributor and long waiting time to get
tremely difficult to come back for refills newer consumers—who are primarily a refill are barriers to adoption of LPG
if they have to buy LPG at unsubsidised PMUY beneficiaries—is lower than what (CRISIL 2016), further underscoring the
prices five to seven times. Assuming a it was earlier, and that newer PMUY con- importance of the location and account-
PMUY consumer avails 4.32 refills in the nections may not be translating to con- ability of the distributor. The LPG distri-
first year, this implies a payment of sistent use, even to the extent of earlier bution guidelines, introduced after the
`2,500 to `3,000 for the period. A BPL connections. This may be aggravated by survey, now mandate all distributors,
consumer using 30 units to 50 units of a steady increase in the price of even except the “durgam kshetra” distributors,
electricity per month pays about half subsidised LPG, which grew by 12% be- to home deliver LPG cylinders (MoPNG
this amount to meet their basic electricity tween April and December 2017 (MoPNG 2016). It would be useful to conduct a
needs in any state in India. Perhaps, this 2017b; PPAC 2017b). survey now to see how well this is imple-
is the reason why OMCs have recently The national average LPG consumption mented in rural and remote areas.
decided not to collect EMIs for the first per consumer was about 7.3 cylinders LPG distributors are currently classi-
six refills (Bhaskar 2018), though it seems per year in 2015–16, as against a norma- fied as “shehri” (urban), “rurban” (rural–
this would, at best, only postpone the tive expectation of about 12 cylinders if urban), “gramin” (rural) or durgam
problem rather than address it. it were used for all cooking,11 indicating kshetra, with the criteria for opening a
Reports indicate that about 65%–70% that LPG was meeting only about 60% to distributorship gradually weakening from
of PMUY beneficiaries have availed the 80% of the normative cooking needs shehri to rurban to gramin to durgam
EMI option (Bhaskar 2018; Sharma 2017) even before PMUY. Official estimates in- kshetra. In addition, there are some dis-
but it is not clear if these consumers man- dicate that PMUY beneficiaries consume tributors classified under the erstwhile
age to pay the loan amount and sustain only 35% to 50% of even the normative Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitaran Yojana
72 may 19, 2018 vol lIiI no 20 EPW Economic & Political WeeklyNOTES
(RGGLVY). While some rurban distributors, has increased not only because of the successful in introducing a sustained
who are located in urban areas may also lack of amenities in beneficiary house- change. Indicative evidence suggests that
supply rural consumers, it is expected holds but also because of lack of aware- this is because of issues around afford-
that most rural consumers would be ness. The MoPNG has taken cognisance ability and reliability of LPG supply. A
serviced by one of the other kinds of dis- of this fact and has recently launched major concern is the absence of publicly
tributors. While there are about eight the LPG panchayat programme to increase available data about the programme, its
distributors per lakh households in urban awareness about safety-related issues progress, and impact. Lack of availability
areas, it seems there are only 6.5 distri- (PTI 2017). However, a lot more needs to of such information results in reliance
butors per lakh households in rural areas be done in order to avoid accidents, on anecdotal reports to assess the pro-
(SCPNG 2018), in spite of the fact that the including regular inspections and adher- gramme. In light of this analysis, we
LPG distributorship guidelines require ence to safety procedures. Compliance suggest the following changes to the
fewer consumers per distributor for rur- to such procedures should be monitored PMUY programme in particular and the
ban, gramin and durgam kshetra dis- by the OMCs and also reported for every LPG sector in general.
tributors (MoPNG 2016). distributor. Data related to accidents, loss
The number of distributors has not of life and property and the action taken Publishing more information: The
kept pace with the increasing number of should also be reported publicly. MoPNG should publish more information
active LPG consumers as connections are In addition to safety, monitoring supply about the PMUY programme and the LPG
disbursed under PMUY. Between April and service quality is also paramount. sector at regular and frequent intervals
2016 and January 2018, the total number Though the LPG Marketing Discipline (say quarterly) disaggregated along vari-
of distributors in the country went up by Guidelines stipulate actions and penalties ous dimensions such as by state/district/
9%, while the total number of active LPG to ensure compliance to procedures and block, by distributor type, by PMUY/non-
consumers shot up by 31% (PPAC 2016a, practices specified by the OMCs, there PMUY consumers, rural–urban and by
2018). The discrepancy between increase are no published reports of compliance subsidised/non-subsidised consumer type.
in the number of distributors and consum- to this. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Examples of the kind of data that should
ers is much worse in some states. For ex- current mechanisms may not be sufficient get published include consumption of LPG
ample, in Bihar and Chhattisgarh, the to ensure accountability of distributors by households, details of expenditure on
total number of distributors went up by and OMCs to consumers (Pandey et al the programme, the number of PMUY
only 5% and 18% respectively while the 2017). Some performance indicators can consumers who availed of the EMI facility
number of consumers increased by 84% be regularly collected and reported on a and the status of repayment of those
and 91% respectively.12 It is unlikely that disaggregated basis to ensure accounta- loans, statistics on key performance in-
distributors would be able to service con- bility such as the average time taken to dicators, especially for distributors and
sumers effectively in this situation, and get connections, average time to obtain OMCs, aggregate information about LPG
points to a need to increase the number refill, and other key parameters. consumer complaints and their status/
of LPG distributors rapidly in rural areas. There is also a need for a well-defined resolution, and data about accidents in-
While it is necessary to increase the and fair multi-tiered consumer grievance volving LPG categorised by their severity.
number of distributors, a couple of other redressal mechanism, consumer aware- The data along with analysis reports us-
points also need to be kept in mind. ness programmes about the existence of ing the data should be published online,
First, the distribution business needs to such a mechanism, and publicly available with the PMUY portal being the obvious
be viable to ensure that distributors are information about consumer grievances choice. In addition, apps can be provided
interested in serving their clients and are raised and addressed by type (for exam- to easily access this information as in the
not tempted to use other means, such as ple, overcharging, issues with home case of other government programmes.
diversion, to remain viable. Given the delivery services, etc) on a disaggregated The data should also be available as a
lower density of consumers in rural areas basis. These are some ingredients that time-series to enable analysis of trends
and resultant increased costs in deliver- can help increase accountability of dis- over time.
ing services to them, and potentially lower tributors and OMCs.
consumption of such consumers, it is not Periodic studies: It would be good to
clear whether the distribution business Conclusions conduct an independent study periodi-
remains viable in rural areas. An inde- PMUY is a bold new initiative that aspires cally (say, every three years) to under-
pendent study in this matter is desirable to fundamentally address one of the stand ground realities regarding the adop-
to explore strategies to ensure that rural pressing energy–access, health and gen- tion of LPG (and, more broadly, modern
distribution is a viable proposition. der challenges in the country. The broad cooking fuels) as a primary cooking op-
picture that emerges is that while the tion. Such a study can be commissioned
Supply, Service, and Safety programme has been successful in intro- by the PPAC. This would help recalibrate
Given the increase in connections, especi- ducing a sense of urgency into the tran- the programme by understanding con-
ally to BPL households, safety has been a sition to modern cooking fuels and dis- sumer preferences, problems, barriers,
major concern. The likelihood of accidents bursing connections, it has been less affordability issues, service issues, etc.
Economic & Political Weekly EPW may 19, 2018 vol lIiI no 20 73NOTES
The study can also try to estimate the initiating discussions on addressing this 7 That is, connections that have had some activity
in the preceding few months. We refer to con-
changes in air pollution levels in homes critical issue. More immediately, there is a nections that are not active as inactive.
and resultant health benefits. Regular need to rapidly increase the number of 8 Many states did have state-level subsidised
connected disbursement programmes before
monitoring of PMUY and publishing of rural distributorships to enhance the PMUY. However, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar
information has also been recommend- reach of LPG to rural consumers. Pradesh were not among them.
ed by the corresponding Parliamentary 9 As against the earlier figures which are for the
nine-month period from April to December.
Standing Committee (SCPNG 2018). Safety, supply, and service: There is a 10 This is an indicative number because of possible
need to bring greater consumer account- discrepancies between survey-based estimates
and PPAC connection data. This number also
Fuel pricing: Studies as recommended ability of the distribution segment by includes PNG users, but they are negligible
above can help inform policy decisions, instituting appropriate standards of compared to LPG users and are mainly present
in urban areas. There were only 31.6 lakh do-
particularly around the pricing of fuel, performance for services and multi-tier mestic PNG connections in the country at the
as that is likely to be a critical barrier to grievance handling systems and processes end of 2015–16 (PPAC 2016b). The number of
households is as reported in the LPG profiles
sustained modern fuel adoption in the to increase accountability, and publishing published by PPAC.
near to medium term. Various options may annual reports on grievances addressed 11 Assumptions for the estimation: per capita use-
ful cooking energy required: 947 MJ/year; LPG
be considered such as telescopic pricing, in a disaggregated manner. One such stove efficiency: 55%; average family size: 4.5.
cross-subsidies, smaller gas cylinders, process could be to have annual public 12 Thus, the consumers per distributor increased
from 6,500 to almost 11,500 in Bihar, while the
prepaid coupons, targeted subsidies, etc, hearings for supply and service quality same increased from less than 5,500 to more
which may ease cash flow and/or make at the block or district level. In addition, than 8,500 in Chhattisgarh.
LPG more affordable. This is also an urgent incentives and penalties linked to per-
need as more than 50% of the MoPNG formance and service quality indicators References
budget is allocated for Direct Benefit can be provided to distributors to im- Barnes, D (ed) (2007): The Challenge of Rural Elec-
Transfer of LPG or DBTL. For PMUY con- prove quality of service. trification: Strategies for Developing Countries,
Washington, DC: Routledge.
sumers on EMI, loan repayments can A connection focused approach with- Bhaskar, U (2018): “Ujjawala Scheme: Indian Oil,
also be rationalised so that some bene- out adequate provisions to ensure af- Others Defer Loan Recovery up to 6 LPG Refills,”
Mint, 25 March.
fits of subsidy per refill can be realised. fordability, availability, and accountabil- CAG (2016): “Implementation of PAHAL (DBTL)
Insights can also be gained from state- ity will not result in a corresponding in- Scheme,” Comptroller and Auditor General of
India, Government of India.
specific initiatives to alleviate the finan- crease in consistent use of LPG among
CRISIL (2016): “Assessment Report: Primary Survey
cial burden on poor consumers, such as poor households. We believe that incor- on Household Cooking Fuel Usage and Willing-
the ones initiated by Chhattisgarh and porating suggestions as given above would ness to Convert to LPG,” June, Petroleum Plan-
ning and Analysis Cell, Ministry of Petroleum
Jharkhand (Sharma 2017). help social investment programmes such and Natural Gas, Government of India.
as PMUY to achieve the desired objective Dabadge, A, A Josey and A Sreenivas (2016): “From
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Desai, S and R Vanneman (2016): India Human
as they are tasked with implementing all to overcoming this deep-rooted chal- Development Survey-II (IHDS-II) 2011–12, Ann
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FLDI (2016a): Letter from the Federation of LPG
LPG supply chain. Currently, this seg- 1 See the official website of PMUY at http:// Distributors of India to Joint Secretary (M),
ment of the supply chain is totally con- www.pmujjwalayojana.com/about.html 18 May, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
(viewed on 3 April 2018). — (2016b): Letter from Federation of LPG Distri-
trolled by, and accountable to only the 2 See http://petroleum.nic.in/marketing/schemes/ butors of India to Joint Secretary (M), 4 July,
OMCs. Instead, distributors and OMCs lpg-schemes (viewed on 3 April 2018) for a list Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
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should be made accountable to the 3 This accounts for about 7% to 10% of the over- Nation’s States.
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possibility of an independent regulator, and Natural Gas (SCPNG 2018: 8 –10). viewed on 23 January 2018, http://ghdx.
4 Beneficiaries under PMUY are identified based healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool.
whose responsibilities include consum- on whether their name appears in the SECC da- IIPS and ICF (2017): National Family Health Survey
er service, pricing, planning, etc, can tabase of “deprived” households. These are (NFHS-4) 2015–16: India, International Insti-
households who meet certain deprivation crite- tute for Population Sciences and ICF, Mumbai.
also be considered. Simultaneously, ria as stipulated by the SECC. IIT Bombay, HEI and IHME (2018): Burden of
challenges faced by distributors—in- 5 DDUJGY portal and the GARV dashboard pro- Disease Attributable to Major Air Pollution
cluding the current business model and vide information on key performance indica- Sources in India.
tors up to the village level. For more informa- Jha, D (2017): “Modi’s Pet Ujjawala Scheme Wobbles
its viability—need to be understood tion see: http://www.ddugjy.gov.in/mis/por- as Many Beneficiaries Drop Out after Their
and addressed. A first step towards such tal/index.jsp and http://garv.gov.in/dash- First LPG Cylinder,” Scroll.in, 11 June, viewed
board (viewed on 9 April 2018). on 4 April 2018, https://scroll.in/article/839961/
a reform could be to commission a de- 6 Physical progress for PMAY is also reported till modis-pet-ujjawala-scheme-wobbles-as-many-
tailed, independent study of the LPG the panchayat level. For more information, beneficiaries-drop-out-after-their-first-lpg-cyl-
please see: http://rhreporting.nic.in/netiay/ inder.
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ability and publish it, with a view to letesanction.aspx (viewed on 9 April 2018). Cylinders They Got under Ujjwala Scheme,”
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loksabhaquestions/annex/7/AU2706.pdf. default/files/revujscheme.pdf. — (2018): “LPG Profile as on 1.1.2018,” viewed on
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