Around 42 per cent people from about 100 remote villages in Jhargram and West Midnapore gave up using LPG cylinders during the pandemic because of the rise in their prices, a survey by two academics has revealed.
The survey results can challenge BJP claims that the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana — under which these Jungle Mahal residents had obtained their cooking gas connections — has transformed women’s lives in rural India.
“Our survey of 560 households from 100 villages in 13 blocks in Jhargram and West Midnapore revealed that around 42 per cent of the surveyed people abandoned their gas cylinders and went back to firewood as they could not afford LPG cylinders during the pandemic,” said Pravat Kumar Shit, principal investigator of the survey.
