Film on Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to premiere on National Geographic

A one-hour-long film marking the two-year anniversary of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) is set to premiere on National Geographic.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, launched on May 1, 2016 by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, aims to provide clean cooking fuel to women belonging to the Below Poverty Line (BPL).

The scheme is a part of a larger programme of adding ten crore new LPG connections by 2019 to achieve full coverage of connections in Indian households.

The feature, titled "Winds of Change", chronicles the story of four women, who like others from 67 per cent of rural households of the country, cook with biomass fuel on live fire. It narrates a story of how exposure to the smoke emanating from these bygone ways of cooking have an immediate impact on the environment and affects health of the people.

"With Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, we aim to use LPG as a catalyst for social change through enhancing the health and socio-economic indicators of women from under privileged sections of society.

"We hope this National Geographic film takes the Ujjwala story to the world where people grappling with similar issues of indoor air pollution and challenging set-ups can use our experiences, and perhaps even help us better our own model, so we script a story of developing nations' unique way of fighting climate change while empowering women," Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said in a statement.

The film showcases the problems faced by people across the country - covering areas from the Kashmir Valley, Assam, Uttar Pradesh to Odisha.

"In this film, we focus on a powerful topic - Air Pollution, and how we fail to realise that many are exposed to it within their very homes. While approximately 2.52 million people died due to pollution in India last year, a whopping 25 per cent of these deaths were due to the household pollution resulting from the burning of biomass Chulha.

"In classic National Geographic style of story-telling, the viewers will be provided a balanced view on the topic presenting all possible facets of the problem, the need for accessible clean energy and highlighting how cleaner cooking fuel has transformed the lives of so many in our country," Shruti Takulia, Head, India Productions, National Geographic and Fox Networks Group said.

"Winds of Change" will premiere on May 13 at 10 am on National Geographic.