Over a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed Ayesha Shaikh a certificate making her 'Beneficiary No. 8 crore' of the Ujjwala scheme to provide LPG connections to poor women, she is now struggling to buy a cooking gas cylinder due to rising rates.

Born into a poor family in Aurangabad district, Ayesha (31) got married at an early age and has been living in Ajanta, around 400 km from Mumbai, for the past decade.