Middle class more willing to give up #LPG subsidy than the affluent: Oil  Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

Poor women have the first right over the resources of the country, says Petroleum  minister  Dharmendra Pradhan

A total of 8.5 million people have voluntarily given up the subsidy. The ministry took a sample size of 100,000 people for the survey, and found that among them, only 3% had an annual income above Rs.10 lakh.

“We have a finite amount of subsidy to disburse. Who should benefit from this? Poor women have the first right over the resources of the country,” Pradhan said at a conference on Empowering Women for Sustainable Development organized by think tank Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations and not-for-profit organization TalentNomics.

The affluent must give up state benefits so that it reaches the intended beneficiary, Pradhan said.

From 1 January, households with annual income above Rs.10 lakh are not eligible for subsidy on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders. However, since retailers such as Indian Oil Corp. Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd do not have income data—which the tax authorities are mandated to keep confidential—they depend on disclosures by consumers.

As part of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, approved on 11 March, 50 million poor households will get Rs.1,600 each for securing an LPG connection. The government has allocated Rs.8,000 crore for the scheme, which will be implemented over the next three years.

Dharmendra Pradhan said that the scheme will give priority to households from 400 districts in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and the north-east. The gas connections will be in the name of women and half of the officials from fuel retailing companies implementing the scheme will also be women.

“We are also planning to give a cooking stove along with the gas connection to the women,”  Dharmendra Pradhan   said.

Dharmendra Pradhan said practising women’s empowerment was a Himalayan task, unlike preaching about it. “Affirmative action is the way. We cannot visualize the growth of the society without ensuring equality and dignity of women. In every decision taken, we have to see what is the impact on women,” he said.

The PM #NarendraModi  administration wants to reduce women’s health problems due to smoke from traditional ways of cooking as exposure to one hour of domestic pollution is considered equal to smoking 400 cigarettes. As many as 500,000 people die every year due to domestic pollution, said #Petroleum #Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Ipsita Kathuria, founder and CEO of TalentNomics India. which works towards expanding the pool of female leaders, said equal opportunity for women means not only respecting working women, but also respecting the men who share the household .