Clean Cooking & Gas

In 2014 barely half of Indian households had access to clean cooking gas; hundreds of millions cooked over smoky firewood and coal. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, launched in 2016, gave deposit-free LPG connections to poor women, and India's active LPG consumer base nearly doubled — from 14.52 crore in 2014 to 32.97 crore by 2025 — pushing coverage from about 62% toward near-universal.

Ujjwala has released over 10.5 crore connections, each including a free first refill and stove under the 2.0 phase. The government continues a targeted subsidy (₹300 per cylinder) to keep refills affordable for poor households, and the scheme has been credited by the IEA as a game-changer in ending energy poverty.

PM Ujjwala Yojana tackles the health and drudgery of cooking on firewood and dung by giving poor women a free (deposit-free) LPG connection — the cylinder, regulator and stove — in their own name. The real challenge is not the first connection but the refill: because gas costs money, the government adds a targeted per-cylinder subsidy so beneficiaries keep using clean fuel rather than slipping back to firewood.

Ujjwala has delivered over 10.3 crore connections, and India's overall LPG coverage has climbed from about 62% (2016) to near-universal. The next step is turning connections into steady use — keeping refills affordable (via the ₹300-per-cylinder subsidy), promoting smaller 5-kg cylinders and piped gas, so the health gains for women stick. The longer horizon is even cleaner cooking: electric and biogas.

The next step is turning connections into steady use — keeping refills affordable so more families move durably from firewood to clean cooking gas.

14.52 → 32.97 crore LPG consumers (2014→2025). 10.5 crore+ Ujjwala connections. ~62% → ~100% LPG coverage. Sources: Ministry of Petroleum, PPAC, IEA.