Government Schemes in India play a crucial role in solving many socio-economic problems that beset Indian society, and thus their awareness is a must for any concerned citizen. These are launched by the government to address the social and economic welfare of the citizens of this nation. The Housing for All scheme was an initiative of the Indian government to establish housing facilities for slum dwellers. It was introduced by the Indian government’s Ministry of Housing and urban poverty Alleviation. This is also known as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. It is for both people residing in urban and rural areas that fulfill certain criteria.

TOPICS COVERED IN THE ARTICLE

  • Pradhan mantri Awas Yojana Urban
  • Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin
  • Latest Development

PRADHAN MANTRI AWAS YOJANA (URBAN)

Launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA) in Mission mode.

It envisions provision of Housing for All by 2022, when the Nation completes 75 years of its Independence.

Mission

The Mission seeks to address the housing requirement of urban poor including slum dwellers through following programme verticals:

  1. Slum rehabilitation of Slum Dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a resource.
  2. Promotion of Affordable Housing for weaker sections through credit linked subsidy.
  3. Affordable Housing in Partnership with Public & Private sectors.
  4. Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction /enhancement.

Credit linked subsidy component will be implemented as a Central Sector Scheme while other three components will be implemented as Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS).

Features:

  • Addresses Urban housing shortage among the Urban Poor including the Slum Dwellers by ensuring a pucca house to eligible urban poor.
  • The Mission covers the entire urban area consisting of Statutory Towns, Notified Planning Areas, Development Authorities, Special Area Development Authorities, Industrial Development Authorities or any such authority under State legislation which is entrusted with the functions of urban planning & regulations.
  • All houses under PMAY(U) have basic amenities like toilet, water supply, electricity and kitchen.
  • The Mission promotes women empowerment by providing the ownership of houses in the name of female members or in joint name.
  • Preference is also given to differently abled persons, senior citizens, SCs, STs, OBCs, Minority, single women, transgender and other weaker & vulnerable sections of the society.

Ownership of houses: 

Houses are to be allotted in the name of adult female members or in joint name and all houses to have toilet facility, drinking water and power supply. Preference is given to persons with disabilities, ST/ SC/ OBCs, minorities and transgender.

Achievements: 

A total of 1.12 crore houses have been sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (U), of which 82.5 lakh houses have been grounded and around 48 lakh have been completed.

Divided into Four Verticals:

  • In-situ Rehabilitation of existing slum dwellers using land as a resource through private participation.
  • Credit Linked Subsidy.
  • Affordable Housing in Partnership.
  • Beneficiary-led individual house construction/enhancement.

PRADHAN MANTRI AWAS YOJANA (GRAMIN)

  • Launch: To achieve the objective of “Housing for All” by 2022, the erstwhile rural housing scheme Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) was restructured to Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) w.e.f 1st April, 2016.
  • Ministry Involved: Ministry of Rural development.
  • Aim: To provide a pucca house with basic amenities to all rural families, who are homeless or living in kutcha or dilapidated houses by the end of March 2022.
  • To help rural people Below the Poverty Line (BPL) in construction of dwelling units and upgradation of existing unserviceable kutcha houses by providing assistance in the form of a full grant.
  • Beneficiaries: People belonging to SCs/STs, freed bonded labourers and non-SC/ST categories, widows or next-of-kin of defence personnel killed in action, ex servicemen and retired members of the paramilitary forces, disabled persons and minorities.
  • Selection of Beneficiaries: Through a three stage validation - Socio Economic Caste Census 2011, Gram Sabha, and geo-tagging.
  • Cost Sharing: The cost of unit assistance is shared between Central and State Governments in the ratio 60:40 in plain areas and 90:10 for North Eastern and hilly states.
  • Features:
  • The minimum size of the house has been increased to 25 sq.mt (from 20sq.mt) with a hygienic cooking space.
  • The unit assistance has been increased from Rs. 70,000 to Rs. 1.20 lakh in plain and from Rs. 75,000 to Rs. 1.30 lakh in hilly states.
  • The assistance for construction of toilets shall be leveraged through convergence with Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G), MGNREGS or any other dedicated source of funding.
  • Convergence for piped drinking water, electricity connection, LPG gas connection etc. different Government programmers are also to be attempted.

Performance of the Scheme:

  • Only 55% of the construction target has been completed.
  • Of the 2.28 crore houses to be built for the rural poor, less than 1.27 crore had been built by January 2021.
  • Money has been sanctioned to almost 85% of beneficiaries.
  • This scheme has helped in employment generation. Many states provided employment to their migrant labourers during lock down.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

  • A virtual event was conducted on June 25, 2021, to mark 6 years of successful completion of the three transformative Urban Missions vis. Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U)
  • A short movie that encapsulated the Mission’s journey of six glorious years was showcased during the event, that focussed on the various achievements under the scheme, in line with the vision of Prime Minister- ‘Housing for All’ by 2022

In order to test the dynamic knowledge of the candidate, UPSC and other Government  Exams will have questions regarding the various schemes overseen by the Government of India. So the candidate is required to know about these schemes. More government schemes here