India’s initiative for social welfare comes under fire
- October 31st, 2016
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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/oil-gas/lpg-related-accident-raises-questions-over-government-initiative-to-provide-clean-cooking-gas-to-poor/articleshow/55123274.cms
On May 1st of this year, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi presented a social welcare intiative to provite cooking gas connections to poor families. The plan, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was to provide 5 crore LPG (liquified petroleum gas, flammable mixtures of hydrocarbon gases used as fuel for heating, cooking, and running vehicles) connections to BPL (below poverty line) households by 2019. According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, households that do not have LPG connections rely on firewood, coal, and dung cakes as cooking fuel with a World Health Organization study reporting that smoke inhaled by women from unclean fuel is equivalent to burning 400 cigareetes in one hour. The plan is a step in the right direction for improving the living standards of India’s poorest households, however, there are safety concerns which have led to tragic results. The PMUY has overlooked the unawareness of safe practices amoung first time users. Deaths related to exploding gas cylinders and stoves made up almost one-sixth of all deaths from accidental fires between 2010-14, a total of 19,491 deaths. LPG Distributors have threatened to go on strike due to the poor implementation of PMUY. They plan to start all-India protests starting on December 15 where distributors plan to indefinitely go on strike if these issues are not resolved. Social welfare programs such as these are crutial to the development of countries and the overall security threats that stem from extreme poverty. It would be counterproductive for India’s development to suspend programs like PMUY rather than resolve existing issues and build on these initiaitves.
-Francesca