• The Union Cabinet in its first meeting under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved government assistance for the construction of three crore houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

• The government of India has been implementing the PMAY since 2015-16 to provide assistance to eligible rural and urban households for the construction of houses with basic amenities.

• Under PMAY, a total of 4.21 crore houses have been completed for the eligible poor families under the housing schemes in the last 10 years.

• All the houses constructed under PMAY are provided basic amenities like household toilets, LPG connection, electricity connection and functional household tap connection through convergence with other schemes of the central and state governments. 

Housing For All

Housing is universally recognised as a basic human need. Reducing rural housing shortage and improving the quality of housing especially for the poor is an important component of the poverty alleviation strategy of the government. 

The government is implementing Housing For All scheme under two major components: 

i) Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U)

ii) Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G).

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban)

• The ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) is supplementing the efforts of states/Union Territories by providing central assistance under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) ‘Housing for All’ Mission since June 25, 2015 to provide pucca house with basic amenities to all eligible urban beneficiaries, including minorities, across the country.

• Under the mission, a house is deemed completed when it has the basic amenities like electricity, water supply, kitchen and toilet. 

• A PMAY(U) house ensures dignified living along with a sense of security and pride of ownership to the beneficiaries. 

• It also promotes women empowerment by providing the ownership of houses in the name of female members or in joint names. Preference is also given to persons with disabilities, ST/SC/OBCs/minorities and transgenders.

• The reformatory steps taken under the mission to realise the dream of Housing for All have not only redefined the urban landscape of the country but also transformed the lives of millions of eligible urban households and the process is still ongoing.

• The scheme is being implemented through four verticals: Beneficiary Led Construction/Enhancement (BLC), Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP), In-situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR) and Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS). 

• PMAY-U is a demand driven scheme and the Union government has not fixed any target for construction of houses. 

• Identification of eligible beneficiaries and implementation of projects under PMAY-U is the responsibility of state/UT governments concerned. As per scheme guidelines of PMAY-U, states/UTs undertook a demand survey for identification of eligible beneficiaries including homeless people based on the criteria stipulated in the scheme guidelines. 

• The demand as validated in 2017-18 stood at 112.24 lakh but demand being dynamic in nature, more families became eligible for PMAY-U benefits. 

• Based on the demand assessed, states/UTs formulate project proposals and get them approved by State Level Sanctioning & Monitoring Committee (SLSMC) constituted under the chairmanship of chief secretary of the state/UT concerned.

• After approval from the concerned SLSMC, states/UTs submit the proposals to this ministry for approval of central assistance by the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC). 

• Based on the project proposals submitted by States/ UTs as on December 4, 2023, as many as 118.63 lakh houses have been sanctioned under PMAY-U, out of which 113.43 lakh have been grounded for construction. Out of these 78.27 lakh have been completed/delivered to beneficiaries.

• In August 2022, the Union Cabinet approved continuation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) till December 2024.

Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin

• In order to achieve the target of ‘Housing for All’ in rural areas, the ministry of rural development launched Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) on April 1, 2016.

• PMAY-G aims at providing a pucca house with basic amenities to houseless people and those households living in kutcha and dilapidated houses. 

• The entire target of 2.95 crore under PMAY-G has been allotted among states/UTs. Out of the overall mandated target of 2.95 crore houses, more than 2.94 crore houses have already been sanctioned to the beneficiaries. As on February 3, 2024 as many as 2.55 crore houses have already been completed.

• To ensure that assistance is targeted to those who are genuinely deprived and that the selection is objective and verifiable, the beneficiaries under PMAY-G are identified using housing deprivation parameters given in the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC), 2011 data. 

• The number of eligible beneficiaries available through the SECC database currently stands at 2.04 crore (approximately). 

• The government conducted a survey from January 2018 to March 2019 to identify those beneficiaries who claimed to have been left out under the 2011 SECC survey and thus prepared an additional list of potential beneficiaries. 

• In order to fill the gap of approximately 91 lakh, the survey data has been utilised. The entire target of 2.95 crore houses have already been allocated to all states/UTs.

• Under PMAY-G, beneficiaries are provided financial assistance of Rs 1.20 lakh in plain areas and Rs 1.30 lakh in hilly states (including northeastern states and UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh), difficult areas and Integrated Action Plan (IAP) districts. 

• Additional assistance of Rs 12,000 is extended for construction of toilets through convergence with Swachh Bharat Mission – Gramin (SBM-G), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) or any other dedicated source of funding.

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