NEW DELHI: For some, Diwali is all about gifts and spreading happiness. For others, it’s a celebration of the inner light.This year, one will be able to indulge in both — and get income tax relief in the process — in a ‘plus’-size festive offer the Narendra Modi government is stitching together with the aim of bringing a smile on poor women’s faces by gifting clean cooking fuel. The package, to be called ‘ Ujjwala Plus ’, will allow good samaritans — corporates included — to donate cooking gas connections for poor households.Donors will be able to do by paying the cost of the number of Ujjwala LPG (cooking gas supplied in cylinders) connections they want to sponsor to a non-profit company floated by the oil ministry. Each connection costs Rs 1,600. “Ujjwala Plus will be launched before Diwali,” oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan , whose stewardship is credited with the successful implementation of Ujjwala, told TOI. He said donors will get relief under Section 80G of tax norms.Ujjwala was launched on May 1 with the aim of providing free LPG connection to five crore poor households in three years. But a superfast rollout saw the scheme exceed the first year's target of 1.5 crore households in just eight months, with total coverage currently pegged at nearly 3 crore households.Under Ujjwala, state-run fuel retailers provide free connections to poor households with support from the government. The ‘plus’ scheme thus takes Ujjwala to the next level by giving a government welfare scheme the visage of a people's movement. The plus scheme derives much from the ‘Give it Up’ campaign, which saw over one crore households voluntarily surrendering subsidy in response to an appeal from the PM, who said the saved subsidy would be used to fund connections to poor households.As a precursor, Pradhan will launch ‘LPG Panchayat’ scheme in Ahmedabad on Saturday. “We have 22.5 crore LPG consumers in the country. We have to raise this coverage. For this we need to create mass awareness about safety, affordability and health benefits of using LPG as a cooking fuel. LPG Panchayat will rope in women working at local self government bodies or in mass-based schemes such as Anganwadi and Choupals to do this,” Pradhan said.At a political level, Ujjwala has proven to be an effective tool for outreach. The scheme yielded rich dividends for the BJP in UP elections as it changed people's lives and established a connect with Modi's development politics. The latest versions are building on this to establish a more direct link with women who have emerged as an independent and influential block of voters.