Ujjwala Yojana to benefit eight crore women now 

Ujjwala Yojana to benefit eight crore women now 

Context:

• The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the increase in the target for the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, meant to provide cooking-gas connections to rural women, to eight crore from the earlier five crore.
• The deadline for achieving the target is 2020.
• The Cabinet also approved an additional allocation for the scheme of Rs. 4,800 crore.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and its benefits:

• Providing LPG connections to BPL households will ensure universal coverage of cooking gas in the country, claims the government.
•   It will empower women and protect their health.
• It will reduce drudgery and the time spent on cooking.
• It will also provide employment for rural youth in the supply chain of cooking gas

Other outcomes:

The meeting took a slew of decisions across sectors, including:

• Increasing the minimum support price for copra.
• Extending the Discovered Small Fields Policy to include more oil and gas fields.
• Approving several bilateral agreements signed by India
• Giving ex post facto approval to the changes made in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill.

MSP for copra

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for increase in the minimum support price for fair average quality (FAQ) of ‘milling copra’ to Rs. 7,500 a quintal for 2018 season from Rs. 6,500 per quintal in 2017.