A decade on, 'Give It Up' campaign loses steam after a promising start

It has been a decade since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government launched the PAHAL (Pratyaksh Hastantarit Labh) Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, or Pahal-DBT, across the country. Initially introduced in 2013 in 54 districts, the scheme was expanded nationwide in January 2015.

 

On March 27, 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Give It Up’ campaign at the ‘Urja Sangam’ global energy summit, urging economically well-off individuals to voluntarily surrender their LPG subsidy to help the government provide the connections to poor households. A year later, on May 1, 2016, the Centre introduced the PM Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) to