Over 100 beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana from 20 states will share with the LPG panchayat their experiences of how clean cooking fuel has changed their lives, in the presence of President Ram Nath Kovind.
Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer, positioned adequate stocks of all petroleum products -- petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG in the state.
LPG demand this fiscal is expected to be around 11 million tonne, against around 10.2 million tonne last year. It is the subsidised price of LPG, which is available at around Rs 21 per kg for domestic use. LPG for industries, which is outside price control, is sold at around Rs 58 per kg, up from around Rs 36 per kg last year.
Gandhi also raised the issue of rising prices of LPG cylinders and said crores of beneficiaries of the Ujjawala scheme are not able to afford a refill.
Petrol and diesel prices were on Tuesday hiked by 80 paise a litre while domestic cooking gas prices were increased by Rs 50 per cylinder, ending an over four-and-half month election-related hiatus in rate revision, sources said. Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 96.21 per litre as against Rs 95.41 previously while diesel has gone up from Rs 86.67 per litre to Rs 87.47. Simultaneously, the price of a non-subsidised LPG cylinder has been increased to Rs 949.50 for each 14.2-kg bottle in the national capital.
There are about 15.3 crore LPG consumers in the country.
Ujjwala Yojana was launched on May 1, 2016 at Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh and has so far covered 47.3 million consumers in 715 districts
Over 12,450 LPG users have so far voluntarily given up their subsidies, but this accounts for only 0.008 per cent of about 15 crore (150 million) domestic cooking gas consumers in the country.
IOC and other oil firms have been paying LPG consumers in 54 districts up to Rs 500 to help them buy a 14.2-kg cooking gas refill at market price, which is more than double of Rs 410 per bottle rate in Delhi.
Cooking gas (LPG) dealers on Monday threatened to go on an indefinite strike from January 19 unless oil companies stop appointing new distributors.
After making it available at petrol pumps, the convenient 5-kg cooking gas (LPG) cylinder will now be available at kirana stores and supermarkets in select cities.
Diesel prices are still under control with subsidies.
A 14.2-kg subsidised LPG cylinder in Delhi will now cost Rs 507.42 as against Rs 505.34 previously, according to a price notification of State-owned fuel retailers.
Petroleum and oil marketing companies raised the price of commercial liquid petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders by Rs 350.50 per unit and domestic LPG cylinders by Rs 50 per unit with immediate effect from Wednesday.
The smaller cylinders will be sold at market rates.
One of the major challenges before the government is that the annual average refill by a PMUY consumer is 3.28 cylinders compared to seven for others.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reviewed the impact of Covid-19 on the Indian economy and a possible second stimulus to boost sectors hit hard by the pandemic. Modi held discussions with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as the pandemic hit sectors from small industries to the aviation sector hard with millions of jobs at stake.
The finance ministry is working on a second relief package for the Indian economy hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and the 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the contagion, sources said. Last month, the government announced a Rs 1.70 lakh crore relief package in the form of foodgrains and cash transfers for the poor and vulnerable section of the society to help them deal with the hardships caused by the lockdown. Now, the government is working on a stimulus to be given to hard-hit sectors of the economy after the lockdown is lifted, sources said, adding that an announcement is expected in the next few days depending on the severity of the pandemic.
In a bizarre incident, a national-level shooter recently lost his left thumb when the 10m air pistol cylinder he was filling exploded, at the Karni Singh Range.
If only you had thought ahead, you would have stocked snacks and biscuits, bread and cake, and vegetables suited for Amma or pondatti to make your favourite bajji and pakoda, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday by 35 paise per litre, pushing the total increase in rates on petrol to Rs 36 per litre and on diesel to Rs 26.58 since early May 2020 when taxes on the two fuels were raised to record levels. Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 107.24 a litre and diesel comes for Rs 95.97, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. The latest increase that follows the unrelenting hike in international oil prices has pushed pump rates across the country to their highest-ever levels.
In a move that will give cooking gas consumers more choice, state oil marketing companies have started selling mini 5-kg LPG cylinders at subsidised rates.
Modi's BJP has promised more revdis or freebies for these assembly elections than ever before, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
More than half of the total subsidy provisioning, amounting to 54 per cent, is going towards food subsidy, which is estimated at Rs 184,220 crore for 2019-20 - a 7.5 per cent increase over the revised estimates for 2018-19.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharama on Thursday stated the government is planning to provide a relief package of Rs 1.7 lakh crore to the underprivileged, poor and migrant workers affected by the lockdown amid the coronavirus outbreak. The scheme has been named the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Scheme.
Too much subsidised cooking gas is being consumed by country's VVIPs, according to the transparency portal launched on Friday by state-owned oil firms.
Of the 170 million rural households in the country, a government website claims to have connected 82 per cent of them. The metered households are 50 per cent of the total. As on February, 2018, of the 780,000 villages to be intensively electrified or provide connection to all in households, 493,000 have been covered. However, the amount and quality of the power supply cannot be ascertained from this data. No clause in any of the rural electrification programmes promises 24 hours' power supply.
Rebuffing petroleum ministry, Siddaramaiah launches Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana-like scheme months before state polls
India's fuel consumption slumped by over 66 per cent in the first week of April as a nationwide lockdown halted economic activity and travel, which eviscerated demand. Petrol and diesel demand is down 66 per cent in April, while aviation turbine fuel (ATF) consumption has collapsed by 90 per cent as most airlines have stopped flying, industry officials said.
The demand for black oils and specialty products like fuel oil, bitumen, petcoke and sulphur has also shown marked improvement, facilitating increase of refineries throughput.
Petrol prices on Thursday crossed Rs 73 a litre mark, the highest level since the BJP government came to power in 2014, while diesel touched a record high of Rs 64.11 a litre.
#GiveItUp but no matching LPG connections for BPL
Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala explains why he thinks Modi should be at the helm of India.
Chuni Goswami needs insulin daily and due to the 21-day nationwide lockdown his medical supervisor is not able to attend him but his wife Basanti is 'managing' it somehow. Former India hockey captain Gurbux Singh remembers the World War II and also the partition but said he never witnessed anything like the current crisis.
Launching the Ayushman Bharat scheme via a video-conference to extend health insurance benefits to all residents of Jammu and Kashmir, he said the three-tier panchayat system has fully taken shape in the UT, describing it as a realisation of Mahatma Gandhi's dream of 'gram swaraj' (village self-rule).
Around 700 migrant workers, women and children have lost their lives in this reverse migration. But what is happening today with the migrant labour is only a continuation of the policies pursued by the Modi regime during the last six years. It is not for nothing that India was ranked the most dangerous country in the world for women in 2018 by the Thompson Reuters Foundation poll, points out Rashme Sehgal.
Can welfare schemes truly transform from being flagship to flag-bearers for a government that is looking to get a second term in 2019?
Siddaramaiah announces free LGP gas, universal health scheme in budget
'I am here to look after people's needs.' 'I am not bothered about who is a Maoist or who is not.'
