It has been over two years since Goti Bai, 36, got her first cylinder of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) under a three-year-old government scheme to promote clean cooking fuel.
A farmer from Khatlabor village in north Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh district, Bai is one of 80 million poor Indian women to benefit from the scheme titled Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).
On a scorching April afternoon when we arrived at her home, Goti Bai was busy with a weekly meeting of the local self-help group. How does she cook? we asked. She pointed to the chulha (earthen stove) on the floor of her one-room home. This windowless space serves as the living room, bedroom and kitchen for her family.
