Mahoba (Uttar Pradesh), Aug 10 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday virtually launched the second phase of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), known as Ujjwala 2.0, here.

"Ujjwala Yojana benefitted women's lives in an unprecedented way," he said. He said he was overwhelmed to receive the blessings from sisters and mothers, ahead of the Raksha Bandhan festival.

The Prime Minister mentioned the names of some prominent personalities associated with Bundelkhand, including Rani Laxmi Bai.

He made a particular mention of Major Dhyan Chand, recalling the decision to rename the country's highest sporting award after the hockey legend. PM Modi also hailed performances of India's men and women hockey teams in the recently concluded Olympics in Tokyo.

He listed some steps taken by his government in the last six years, explaining how each of those benefitted women.

"In the first phase of Ujjwala Yojana, 80 million women received free LPG connections. These connections benefitted families during the lockdown. Imagine what would have happened if Ujjawala Yojana was not there?" Modi said.

He said that in the last seven years, we gave more gas connections than the total number of connections given before 2014. He said that no address proof would be required for the beneficiaries of the Ujjawala scheme.

About 1,000 women beneficiaries were present, out of whom, 10 were given LPG cylinder connections by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a symbolic gesture.

The event also saw Modi interact with five women beneficiaries, one each from Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, respectively.