Mumbai: The LPG subsidy campaign by Narendra Modi is aimed towards saving on crores of rupees, which can translate into developmental activities. Opting for subsidised LPG gas connections would only put an additional load on the Government’s subsidy bill, which crossed almost Rs 40,000 in 2013-2014. In order to recover the costs, the Prime Ministers GiveItUp campaign urges you to give up your LPG subsidy if you can afford it. If you do, your additional amount can add to the development of India, where it is highly required.
Domestic LPG is heavily subsidized by the Government of India and every cylinder that we use in our kitchen carries a substantial subsidy. This translates to a huge annual subsidy burden on the Government, draining precious resources which otherwise could have been used in developmental activities.
Subsidy on domestic LPG instead of being universal needs to meet the needs of the truly needy citizens. Fortunately, many able and aware citizens are not in favor of subsidies and would rather pay the full price for the products and, thereby they also make a personal contribution towards nation-building.
There is a need to spread this message. Accordingly, the Government has launched the ‘GiveItUp’ campaign which is aimed at motivating LPG users who can afford to pay the market price for LPG to voluntarily surrender their LPG subsidy.
To help with the campaign, many corporate giants have jumped on the bandwagon to help. Corporates such as Tata, Vedanta, Reliance, Kotak, Mahindra, Birla, Future, and many others have urged their employees to give up their subsidy on the domestic LPG gas connection since they can afford it easily. Tata has already seen almost 6L employees giving up the subsidy, while Birla has more than 1L employees supporting the move. Other groups of more than 2L (combined) have already signed up for the non-subsidy move.
As of last week, the PM stated that the government has already been helped with more than Rs 100 crore by consumers volunteering to give up LPG subsidy. The government is looking at almost one crore or more households to give up their LPG subsidy and help with the country’s development.
The present price of an LPG cylinder is around Rs 620 (for an avg. 14.2Kg domestic LPG cylinder) and if you are opting for subsidy, then it would cost you lower at around Rs 450. The only difference is approximately Rs 160 – Rs 180. So if you are consuming one cylinder every two months, you would be hardly spending Rs 75 – Rs 90 extra if you go by non-subsidy rates. If you are well-to-do and want to be part of the campaign, head to the GiveItUp website and apply for non-subsidy on your LPG gas connection. The non-subsidised amount collected will help reduce the Indian government's overall subsidy bill and also help finance poor households.
