Why in news?

The Centre has relaxed the automatic exclusion criteria for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), allowing families with certain assets to avail of the rural housing scheme.

What’s in today’s article?

• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G)
• Relaxed norms under PMAY-Gramin

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G)

• Background
  • Indira Awas Yojana was started in 1996 to address the housing needs in the rural areas.
  • However, certain gaps were identified (lack of transparency in selection of beneficiaries, low quality houses, weak monitoring, etc) by CAG in 2014.
  • To address these gaps in the rural housing program, the IAY was restructured into PMAY-G w.e.f. 1st April 2016.
• About
  • PMAY-G has been devised in line with Government’s commitment to provide Housing for All by 2022 in the rural areas.
  • The scheme aims at providing a pucca house with basic amenities to all houseless householder living in kutcha and dilapidated houses by 2022.
    • Houses built under PMAY-G will be low-cost, disaster-resilient, and in line with the socio-cultural and geo-climatic conditions of the region.
• Ministries involved
• PMAY-G is centre's flagship mission by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
• Initial Targets Under PMAY-G
  • The scheme aims to provide assistance for construction of 2.95 crore pucca houses for eligible rural households by March, 2022 in phases:
    • 1 crore houses in Phase I (2016-17 to 2018-19) and
    • 1.95 crore houses in Phase II (2019-20 to 2021-22).
• New Target Under PMAY-G
• PMAY-G has a new target of building two crore additional houses by 2028-29, in addition to the existing target of 2.95 crore houses.
• Key Features:
  • Funding pattern
    • The Unit cost will be shared between the Central and state govt in the ratio of 60:40 for plain regions.
    • For rural areas situated in NE and Himalayan states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the pattern will be 90:10.
  • Identification of beneficiaries
    • The beneficiaries will be determined based on their social indicators as determined by the Socio-Economic and Caste Census or SECC.
    • The respective gram sabhas will then determine data verification and will pass that information to the administration.
  • Unit assistance
    • The unit assistance is Rs1.20 lakh in plains and Rs. 1.30 lakh for in hilly states, difficult areas and IAP districts.
    • Along with financial assistance, the beneficiary is also offered 90 days of employment under the MGNREGA (approximately Rs 18000).
    • Another Rs 12000 will be offered to construct toilets.
  • Automatic Inclusion
    • The Criteria for Automatic Inclusion as follows
    • Households without shelter
    • Destitute / living on alms
    • Manual scavengers
    • Primitive tribal groups
    • Legally released bonded labourer

Relaxed norms under PMAY-Gramin

• Allowed families with certain assets to avail of the rural housing scheme
  • The relaxed norm has allowed families with certain assets—such as two-wheelers, motorised fishing boats, refrigerators, landline phones, and incomes up to Rs 15,000 per month—to avail of the rural housing scheme.
  • Previously, these were grounds for exclusion.
• Some exclusions remain as it is, including:
  • owning motorised three/four-wheelers,
  • mechanised agricultural equipment,
  • having a Kisan Credit Card with a limit above Rs 50,000,
  • government employment,
  • registered non-agricultural businesses, and
  • taxpaying households.
• Revised criteria to help achieve the new goal of PMAY-G
  • The revised criteria aim to help the government achieve its goal of constructing an additional two crore rural houses by 2028-29.
  • As of now, 2.65 crore houses have been completed under the Housing for All program, which initially targeted 2.95 crore rural houses.