Allocation for PM Awas Yojana increased by 66%: A look at the progress made under the scheme

By: Yash Gupte

The Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF), which will be utilised to build urban infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, was also unveiled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

In a major boost to affordable housing, the budget allocation for the PM Awas Yojana was increased by 66 percent in the union budget presented on February 1, 2023. The Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF), which will be utilised to build urban infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, was also unveiled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. PMAY was allocated over Rs 79,000 crore this fiscal as compared to last year’s Rs 48,000 crore. Data released by the government shows that the PMAY has been able to empower people across different states. Women have benefitted a lot from the PMAY-G (Gramin/ Rural).

According to the data released by the government, Over 69 percent of houses constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G) are either wholly or jointly owned by women in rural areas. A senior official in the Ministry of Women and Child Development in an interview with The Hindu said that it had been the government’s endeavor to ensure women get a fair share of government schemes under the 'Nari Shakti initiative.' He further said that, "The idea behind the initiative is to have 'women-led' development instead of 'development of women.' By providing houses under the PMAY–G, the government has fulfilled the aspirations of women of owning a pucca house and strengthened their participation in the financial decision making of the household."

The recent released data shows that, out of the total 2.70 crore sanctioned houses under the PMAY-G, only 1.90 crore houses have been built. India Tracker takes a look at the target allocated by the rural development industry, houses sanctioned by states and UTs and the number of houses constructed under the scheme.

PMAY-G aims at providing a pucca house, with basic amenities, to all houseless householder and those households living in kutcha and dilapidated house, by 2022. The immediate goal was to reach 1 crore households in three years, from 2016–17 to 2018–19, that reside in kutcha houses or decaying homes. The minimum size of the home had been raised from 20 square meters to 25 square meters, and it also includes a clean kitchen area. In plain areas, the unit support was increased from Rs. 70,000 to Rs. 1.20 lakh, and in hilly states, difficult areas, and Integrated Action Plan (IAP) districts, it was increased from Rs. 75,000 to Rs. 1.30 lakh. The beneficiary is entitled to 90.95 person day of unskilled labor from Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The scheme has been extended by the Ministry of Rural Development till March 2024.

Source: Ministry of Rural Development

Out of all the states and UTs, Lakshadweep is the only UT which has been able to achieve the 100 percent target as the target of 45 houses was allotted by the ministry and the same number was sanctioned by the UT and the whole target of 45 houses was achieved till August 2022. West Bengal has implemented the scheme very well as out of the 34,68,216 houses sanctioned by the state government, 33,49,178 have been completed. Apart from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh has also performed very well as 25,76,543 houses have been built out of the 26,10,310 sanctioned by the state government. The poorest performing states are Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Assam, Nagaland, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Out of the total 40,354 houses in Arunachal Pradesh, only 5272 have been completed. In Goa, only 133 houses have been completed out of the target allocation of 1548 houses. In case of Andhra Pradesh, out of the target allocation of 3,07,746 houses by the MoRD, only 1,60,880 houses have been sanctioned by the state government and only 1,01,675 houses have been built. The data is not available for Puducherry and Telangana as these regions are not implementing the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin.

The worst offender is Tamil Nadu, which has 56,709 landless applicants remaining on the waiting list, followed by Maharashtra (48,272), Assam (23,064), Odisha (19,869) and Bihar (16,943). In Tamil Nadu, only 971 of the 57,680 recipients who were initially landless have received land as a result of the programme.

Delay in release of Central & State Share from State Treasury to State Nodal Account of PMAY-G, cases of unwillingness of beneficiaries to complete the construction, migration, disputed succession of deceased beneficiaries, delay in allotment of land to landless beneficiaries by the States/UTs and at times those occurring on account of General/Assembly/Panchayat elections, unavailability of building materials etc. are the reasons behind the delay in achievement of targets under the scheme. Though the necessary steps are taken by the government, the progress under the PMAY-G is being made at a slow pace. The Central government and the state governments need to work hand-in-hand with a spirit of cooperative federalism irrespective of political differences and focus on implementation of the scheme at the grassroots levels as housing is a basic necessity for survival.