Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana (PMGAY)
आवास योजना
Country India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Launched 2015
Website iay.nic.in/netiay/home.aspx

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana (PMGAY), previously Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), is a social welfare flagship programme, created by the Indian Government, to provide housing for the rural poor in India. A similar scheme for urban poor was launched in 2015 as Housing for All by 2022. Indira Awaas Yojana was launched by Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, as one of the major flagship programs of the Ministry of Rural Development to construct houses for BPL population in the villages. Under the scheme, financial assistance worth ₹70,000 (US$1,000) in plain areas and ₹75,000 (US$1,100) in difficult areas (high land area) is provided for construction of houses.[1] The houses are allotted in the name of the woman or jointly between husband and wife. The construction of the houses is the sole responsibility of the beneficiary and engagement of contractors is strictly prohibited. Sanitary latrine and smokeless chullah are required to be constructed along with each IAY house for which additional financial assistance is provided from "Total Sanitation Campaign" and "Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana" respectively.[2] This scheme, operating since 1985, provides subsidies and cash-assistance to people in villages to construct their houses, themselves.

History

Started in 1985 as part of the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP), Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) was subsumed in Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY) in 1989 and has been operating as an independent scheme since 1996.[3] From 1995–96 the scheme has been further extended to widows or next-of-kin of defence personnel killed in action, ex-servicemen and retired members of the paramilitary forces who wish to live in rural areas as long as they meet basic eligibility criteria.

Given that India has been historically a populous and poor country, the need of proper housing for the refugees and villagers has been a focus of Government's welfare schemes since the time of India's independence.[4] As a result various welfare schemes like House Sites cumg Construction Assistance Scheme have been ongoing since the 1950s.[4] However, it was only in the 1983 that a focussed fund for creation of housing for scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs) and freed bonded labour was set up under Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP). This gave birth to IAY in the fiscal year 1985–86.[4]

"Indira Awaas Yojana" (IAY) was launched by Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India in 1985 and was restructured as "Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana" (PMGAY) in 2015.[5][6]

Purpose

The broad purpose of the scheme is to provide financial assistance to some of the weakest sections of society for them to upgrade or construct a house of respectable quality for their personal living.[4] The vision of the government is to replace all temporary (kutchcha) houses from Indian villages by 2017[7]

Eligibility Criteria

Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, freed bonded labourers, minorities and non-SC/ST rural households in the BPL category, widows and next-of-kin to defence personnel/paramilitary forces killed in action (irrespective of their income criteria), ex-servicemen and retire Scheme.

Implementation

IAY is an allocation based, centrally sponsored scheme funded on a cost sharing basis between the Central Government and the State Government in the 75%:25% ratio, except in case of North-eastern states and Union Territories (UTs). For NE states the central government funds 90% and 100% for the UTs.

The funds are allocated to the states based on 75% weightage of rural housing shortage and 25% weightage of poverty ratio. The housing shortage is as per the official published figures of Registrar General of India based on the 2001 Census.[8]

A software called "AWAAS Soft" was launched in July 2010 to assist in improved administration of this scheme.[3]

Current provisions

As per the Budget 2011, the total funds allocated for IAY have been set at ₹100 billion (US$1.5 billion)[9] for construction of houses for BPL families with special focus on the Left Wing Extremist (LWE) districts.[10]

Under the scheme, eligible people will get a financial assistance from government amounting to ₹1.2 lakh (US$1,800) for constructing their houses in rural areas and an amount of ₹12,000 (US$180) for constructing toilets. In addition, they can also borrow an amount of ₹70,000 (US$1,000).[6]

Impact

Since 1985, 25.2 million houses have been constructed under the scheme. Under the Bharat Nirman Phase 1 project, 6 million houses were targeted and 7.1 million actually constructed from 2005–06 to 2008–09.[11] Additional, 12 million houses are planned to be constructed or renovated under the Bharat Nirman Phase 2.[11]

According to the official 2001 figures, the total rural housing shortage was 14.825 million houses.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "More...".
  2. ↑
  3. 1 2 "Indira Awaas Yojana". Rural.nic.in. Archived from the original on 6 February 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "GUIDELINES for INDIRA AWAAS YOJANA-Introduction". rural.nic.in. Archived from the original on 25 December 2010. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  5. ↑ "Modi government to rename new-look Indira Awaas Yojana to Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana", The Economic Times, 29 December 2015
  6. 1 2 "Modi govt changes Indira Awaas Yojana's name; it's now Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana", Zee News, 25 April 2016
  7. ↑ Kumar, Devesh (19 June 2010). "Indira Awaas Yojana scope to be widened, states to come in as partners". Economic Times. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  8. ↑ "Allotment of Indira Awas". Press Information Bureau, Government of India. 3 March 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  9. ↑ IANS (28 February 2011). "Union Budget 2011: Rural development to get 12% more". Economic Times. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  10. ↑ Balchand, K. (28 February 2011). "Pranab shifts focus to Bharat Nirman". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  11. 1 2 3 "Persons Eligible for Indira Awas Yojana(IAY)". Press Information Bureau, Government of India. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
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