Recently, the Union cabinet approved for constructing 3 crore more rural and urban houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana with higher assistance per beneficiary.
What is Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana?
In pursuance to the goal of Housing for all, PM awas Yojana was launched.
Types – There are two types of schemes covering both urban and rural areas.
PMAY-G – Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin
PMAY-U – Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban
Mission – To achieve the objective of providing “Housing to All” by the year 2024.
To construct a house for poor people who don’t have their own house which is beneficial for both urban and rural areas.
Mode - It is a centrally sponsored scheme, by which the Centre and states share expenses in
60:40 ratio – In plain areas
90:10 ratio – In northeastern states, two Himalayan states and the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
100% by Centre – In case of other Union Territories, including the UT of Ladakh.
Eligibility – The applicant should also be an Indian citizen who should not own any pucca house before applying.
No member of the family should have a government job as well.
Targeted beneficiaries – A total of 4.21 crore houses have been built for eligible poor families in the last 10 years.
Empowers women – It provides the ownership of houses in name of female member or in joint name.
Empowers marginalized groups – 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.
New initiatives in 2024 – Among sanctioned three crore houses, two crore will be constructed under PMAY-Gramin, while 1 crore under PMAY-Urban.
The government have decided to increase the cost of construction of the PMAY-G house from existing Rs 1.2 lakh to Rs 1.8 lakh in the plains and Rs 1.3 lakh to Rs 2 lakh in the hilly areas.
What is PMAY-Urban?
Launched in – 2015
Nodal ministry – Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
Coverage – Over the entire urban area including Statutory Towns and Notified Planning Areas.
Approach – It adopts a cafeteria approach to suit the needs of individuals based on the geographical conditions, topography, economic conditions, availability of land, infrastructure etc.
Basic amenities – Facilities like toilet, water supply, electricity and kitchen are covered.
Major initiatives – Robust MIS System to help all stakeholders to seamlessly manage information pertaining to physical and financial progress.
The transfer of the assistance beneficiaries is being done through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).
A web based monitoring system, CLSS Awas Portal (CLAP) integrates all stakeholders in real time environment.
ANGIKAAR (A campaign for change management) focuses on adopting best practices.
Global Housing Technology Challenge aims to identify and mainstream a basket of innovative construction technologies.
Light House projects under this ushered a paradigm shift in the construction technology.
What is PMAY-Grameen?
Launched in – 2016, it was previously known as the Indira Awas Yojana.
Nodal Ministry – Ministry of Rural Development
Coverage – It covers rural regions of India (excluding Chandigarh and Delhi).
Beneficiaries – They are selected on the basis of housing deprivation parameters in the Socio-Economic Caste Census 9SECC) 2011 data and the list of beneficiaries is validated by the Gram Sabha.
Assistance – It gives financial assistance to the people who have land and want to build houses.
The banks also provide home loans at low interest rates under this scheme while the government provides subsidies on home loans.
Along with financial assistance, the beneficiary is also offered 90 days of employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to construct toilets.
Targets – Of the sanctioned 2.95 crore houses, 2.61 crore have been built till date.
What are the challenges associated with PMAY?
Scarcity of land – There is little to no space for further development in urban areas.
Land acquisition – The tedious acquisition process makes it difficult to initiate affordable housing projects.
Delayed project approvals – Lengthy and cloudy approval process has often a barrier towards curbing the cost of realty projects.
Higher cost – There is issue of rising cost of raw materials and labour.
Age-old technologies – It leads to have an extended gestation period and extend the construction cycle up to 2-3 years.
Lack of skilled workforce – It affects not only the quality but also delays the completion of the projects.
What lies ahead?
Moving to the peripheral areas where land is available in plenty and at competitive prices.
Easing land acquisition process or government acquiring land and handing over the same to developers at a higher subsidy/incentive.
An efficient single-window clearance system enabling speedy approvals to realty projects.
Curbing inflation, tax rebates on construction material for PMAY projects.
Adopting globally-available mass construction technologies.
Development of training centres across the country and to have internationally recognised certification to skilled professionals.
