The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), launched in 2016, aimed to expand access to clean cooking fuel by providing deposit-free LPG connections to women from socio-economically disadvantaged households.
The Policy is specially appreciated for its adoption achievements. In September 2019 the target to release 80 million connections under PMUY was achieved to cover the remaining poor households UJJWALA
2.0 was launched in August 2021 with target to release 10 million additional PMU connections which was achieved in January 2022. As on 1st March 2025 the total number of active domestic LPG consumers in India stands at 32.94 ka role including 10.33 crore benefit beneficiaries of PMUY.
However subsequent evidence revealed a persistent gap between access and sustained usage with many beneficiary households continuing to rely on traditional fuels alongside LPG.A recent study by Jain et. al (2018) in six of the most energy access-deprived states—Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal—suggests that only about one-third of rural population in these states use LPG as their primary cooking fuel. Thus, while access to LPG has increased sharply under flagship schemes like Ujjwala, continued reliance on traditional fuels persists, highlighting the need for integrated behavioural policy approaches.
Why the need for Ujjwala Yojana
Health & Indoor Air Pollution: The widespread use of traditional cookstoves poses a serious risk to health of women ,who on an average spend three hours in poorly ventilated kitchen in rural areas .According to a WHO report over 800,000 premature deaths annually in India are linked to the burning of biomass for cooking. Women and children are most exposed, facing respiratory illnesses, low birth weight, and other perinatal complications. Clean cooking fuels like LPG significantly reduce these health risks.
Energy Access & Inclusion: Data shows that Urban India has reached a much greater access to clean cooking fuel as compared to Rural India .The 68th NSSO Report revealed that over two thirds of households in rural India still relied on firewood and cow dung for the primary cooking fuel needs.
Apart from Urban -Rural divide, there also exists substantial inter-state and regional variations in access to clean cooking fuels.
Figure shows that despite progress, eastern and central India have the lowest access to clean cooking energy.
Alignment with SDG Goals: The policy contributes directly to multiple Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 3 (Good Health & Well-being), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), and SDG 7 (Affordable & Clean Energy) by providing equitable access to clean cooking energy.
Women Empowerment & Environmental Concerns: Access to LPG saves women’s time previously spent on fuel collection, enabling participation in education, self-help groups, small businesses, and childcare. This promotes economic inclusion, gender equity, and enhanced productivity. Traditional methods also contribute to global warming as they emit highly potent black carbon.
Policy Gaps and Challenges
- Challenge 1: High LPG Coverage but Low Sustained Usage- Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has significantly expanded access to LPG connections in India. From 61.9% in 2015–16 it has achieved remarkable coverage of 94.3% in 2018–19.However, this expansion in access has not translated into sustained usage, particularly in rural areas. The table below shows that while LPG coverage consistently increased over time, average annual refill consumption among PMUY beneficiaries remained substantially lower than that of non-PMUY consumers. Between 2016–17 and 2018–19, PMUY beneficiaries consumed only 3.0–3.9 cylinders annually, compared to 6.7–7.5 cylinders among non-PMUY households. This gap indicates that the policy has largely succeeded in improving access, but not in ensuring regular or sustained use of LPG, pointing to a behavioural and affordability challenge rather than an infrastructure deficit.
| LPG Coverage | Average annual refill (non PMUY) | Average annual refill (PMUY) | |
| 2015-16 | 61.9% | 7.7 | |
| 2016-17 | 72.8% | 7.5 | 3.9 |
| 2017-18 | 80.9% | 7.3 | 3.4 |
| 2018-19 | 94.3% | 6.7 | 3.0 |
- Challenge :2 Gendered Control- Although the policy was meant as a behavioural nudge to make women decision makers by providing benefits only to Adult women, the Aadhar only registration data exposes 42%or 12.5 lakh data mismatches in the Socio economic and caste census , as they were controlled by men only .Also, CAG noted that there are no parameters to assess outcomes related to the scheme such as improvement in health of women and reduction in air pollution.
- Challenge:3 Commercial Diversion- As per a CAG Report around 14 lakh PMUY beneficiaries consumed 3–41 cylinders per year, with about 2 lakh using more than 12 cylinders. This shows that some LPG connections are being diverted for resale rather than household cooking.
- Challenge: 4 Fuel Stacking and Limited Effectiveness of Policy on behaviour Even after receiving LPG connections under PMUY, many rural households continue using traditional solid fuels like firewood, dung, and agricultural residues, alongside LPG. This behaviour, called fuel stacking, It is most common in households that are economically or socially marginal and use LPG only on special occasions. The ACCESS survey (2014–15) of 8,500 households in six energy‑poor states found that only ~60% of LPG‑using households considered it their primary fuel, and even these often relied on biomass for specific dishes. Merely ~4% of LPG‑owning households used LPG exclusively.
- Challenge 5: Equity and Poverty issues- LPG access remains uneven across social groups, which weakens the behavioural nudge of PMUY. By 2019, 69% of General caste households had LPG connections, compared to only 38% of Scheduled Tribe households . Rural families also face lower adoption due to affordability issues, showing lowest numbers of refills. means the intended behavioural change which was consistent use of clean cooking energy is far less effective among the most vulnerable populations, leaving significant gaps in both health and social benefits.
- Challenge:6 Lack of awareness : limited awareness of impact of solid burning fuels on health and the ignorance of the benefits of cleaner cooking fuels have major impact on the sustained use of LPG. According to ACCESS Survey by Jain et. 72% of households using traditional fuels were aware of is it’s adverse effects however only 52% believed that LPG had any positive benefits over the traditional methods implying that awareness Gap of the policy.
Recommendations to enhance Participation
- Multistakeholder and Multiconsumer analysis: Access to clean cooking energy involves multiple stakeholders, including central and state governments, LPG distributors, health workers, women beneficiaries, and local community institutions.15 Each stakeholder has distinct roles, incentives, and behavioural constraints, making it essential to analyse their influence on adoption and sustained usage. Recent consumer studies by Nielsen (2016) classified rural and peri-urban LPG users into four segments based on cooking habits, fuel preferences, willingness to pay, and stove usage. The details of these segments are presented in the table below, illustrating variation in behaviour and adoption potential across different groups.
| Consumer Segment | Description | Likelihood to adopt clean energy | Approach |
| Discerning Affluent | Highest in the Socio economic classification Does not lack purchasing power but discouraged by awareness, tradition and convenience | High | Increasing the overall awareness , especially of decision makers |
| Struggling Maximisers | Sit at medium level in Socio economic position . Have large families. Despite being aware of health hazards of biofuel ,they consider LPG refill costly | Medium , can be better with non coercive nudge | Providing complementary solutions like Solar Gas . Affordability can be improved by enabling payments through installation |
| Wishful | Low on socio economic position Report problems with solid fuel but lack the affordability. Engage in fuel stacking | Low | Making LPG more affordable , through government interventions |
| Strapped | Lowest on SEC profile ,does not have disposable income to pay for cooking fuel | Low | Improved cook stokes with or without subsidy should be provided coupled with installment schemes in order to encourage a shift away from chulhas ventilation of the kitchen should also be checked in such houses. |
- Multifuel Approach – Niti Aayog suggests that instead of just LPG focus should be on eliminating Traditional cooking methods through a combination of clean cooking energy solution .For example ,in rural areas with an adequate cattle population the focus should be on complementing LPG with biogas and other solar powered cooking solutions.
- Inclusive and Gender sensitive approach – the policy framework seeds to promote the right to development of women children and all the marginalised groups hence the social political structures of these vulnerable groups should be kept in mind during the implementation phase of the policy to ensure social inclusion regardless of caste gender and age does adopting a context based approach. This can also include integrating the PMUY into other schemes like Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, under MORD.
- Raising awareness through Multiple Ministries::Niti Ayog suggested that the ministry of health and family welfare could play an important role as a neutral party not just promoting a particular technology but educating households about the health effects of traditional fuel as villagers are understand they believe reluctant to believe institutional statements primary health Care centres in the villages and Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) can play and primary rule as an interface between public health system and the community. The ministry of women and child development could also support awareness campaigns through its network of integrated child development services Anganwadi workers could be trained to handle queries on the health impacts and child Health and welfare The Ministry of Panchayti Raj can support the institutionalization of affordable clean cooking energy as a part of its development expenditure and Gram Sabhas can be used as opportunities to spread awareness.
- Focus on kitchen design and ventilation: according to census 2011, about 40% of the houses in India did not have a separate kitchen does designs for better ventilation could be promoted under MoRD’s housing scheme Pradhan mantri awas Yojana gramin Yojana.(PMAY-G). This could also include construction of elevated platforms required for Safe use of LPG.
Conclusion
The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and Ujjwala 2.0 have greatly improved access to LPG across both rural and urban India. However, regular use of LPG remains a challenge. However ,with corrective measures as recommended by NITI Aayog and Multisectoral and Multiministerial approach this issue can be overcome.
