🧩 Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana 🧩
Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana (PMGAY), previously Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), is a social welfare programme, created by the Indian Government, to provide housing for the rural poor in India.
➖Launched in 1996 (as Indira Awaas Yojana, later restructured in 2015)
➖A similar scheme for urban poor was launched in 2015 as Housing for All by 2022.
➖Indira Awaas Yojana was launched in 1985 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 Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana 2020, the Central Government is providing financial assistance of Rs.1, 000 for building of pucca house on flat land and the Government is providing financial assistance of Rs.1, 000 for construction of pucca house in hilly area.
🔸 Overview
➖Under the PMGAY scheme, financial assistance worth ₹120,000 (US$1,700) in plain areas and ₹130,000 (US$1,800) in difficult areas (high land area) is provided for construction of houses.
➖These houses are equipped with facilities such as toilet, LPG connection, electricity connection, and drinking water [convergence with other schemes e.g. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan toilets, Ujjwala Yojana LPG gas connection, Saubhagya Yojana electricity connection, etc.].
➖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" ( Which is now subsumed by Deen Dayal Upadhaya Gram Jyoti Yojana ) respectively.
➖This scheme, operating since 1985, provides subsidies and cash-assistance to people in villages to construct their houses, themselves.
➖"Indira Awaas Yojana" (IAY) was launched by Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India in 1985 and was restructured as "Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana" (PMGAY) in 2015.
🔸 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 1 January 1996.
➖In 1993-94 this scheme was extended to Non SC/ST categories also.
➖From 1995 to 1996 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.
🔸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.
➖The vision of the government is to replace all temporary (kutchcha) houses from Indian villages by 2017.
🔸Phases
3 Phases of PMAY envisage starting and completing the house construction work as follows:
➖PMAY Phase-1 from April 2015 to March 2017 to cover 100 cities.
➖PMAY Phase-2 from April 2017 to March 2019 to cover additional 200 cities.
➖PMAY Phase-3 from April 2019 to March 2022 to cover the remaining cities.
