The Cabinet on Monday extended the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana that provides free LPG gas connections to "all poor households" by adding 1 crore more households.

In a statement, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) said that it had "cleared the proposal of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas to release deposit free LPG connections to poor families, who have not been considered earlier for release of LPG connections under Pradhan MantriUjjwalaYojana (PMUY) on account of their names not been covered either in Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) list or the seven identified categories i.e. SC/STs households, beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(PMAY) (Gramin), Antyodaya Anna Yojana(AAY), Forest dwellers, Most Backward Classes (MBC), Tea & Ex-Tea Garden Tribes, people residing in Islands / river islands, whose names did not appear in the SECC list."

The Ujjwala Yojana was launched on 1 May 2016 to provide free LPG connections with cash assistance by the Government of India and also, interest-free loan to purchase stove and refill by Oil Marketing Companies. So far, more than 5.86 crore LPG connections have been released under PMUY as per the official data as against the target of 8 crore. Out of the 5.6 crore, 48 percent of the beneficiaries belong to SC/STs groups.