The government has logic in ending the LPG subsidy to households as people having income in crores were also enjoying this facility which is in no way justified because the very concept of subsidy came into existence to help the poor and marginalized people. This was the failure of successive governments that it provided this highly illogical benefit to the elite class snatching the right of those who were in need of government assistance for even getting two meals per day. As the reports have surfaced that the Government has limited subsidy on cooking gas (LPG) for only 9 crore poor women and other beneficiaries who got free connections under the Ujjwala scheme and the remaining users, including households, will pay the market price is a part of government’s rationalization of public exchequer because a spendthrift dispensation is not good for the people of the country. With this move the government has ensured that only those who are really deserving get the benefit and others should play the significant role in boosting the economy of the country as end of subsidy to all will save hundreds of crores of rupees annually. The announcement on this has been made by Oil Secretary Pankaj Jain that no subsidy is paid on cooking gas since June 2020 and the only subsidy that is provided is the one that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on March 21. Earlier, Sitharaman had while announcing a cut in excise duty on petrol by a record Rs 8 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 6, stated that Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries will get Rs 200 per cylinder subsidy for 12 bottles in a year to help ease some of the burden arising from cooking gas rates rising to record levels. It is to be noted that the government ended subsidies on petrol in June 2010 and on diesel in November 2014 thus paving way for good revenue generation for realizing the dream of developed India. The government has taken many steps which can be called a pragmatic as well as prolific by channelizing funds in a rational way rather than draining them like the earlier dispensations in the country.
