| The present amount is Rs 25,000. The ministry, which has circulated a Cabinet note, is awaiting the finance ministry's views. |
| "Though the working group wants the amount to be Rs 45,000, we restricted it to Rs 30,000 to get the proposal approved. We hope the additional Rs 5,000 will provide succour to the rural poor," an official said. |
| The official said the proposal, if implemented, would require an additional Rs 1,800 crore next year as the ministry had targeted disbursement of help for building three million houses in the next fiscal. For the current year, the budgetary allocation is Rs 4,040 crore and the target is 2.1 million houses. |
| In hilly/difficult terrains, the assistance per beneficiary is Rs 27,500. In Andhra Pradesh, the beneficiaries are forced to invest about Rs 1 lakh on a house so that it is decent enough to live in. The only way for marginal farmers and landless labourers is to take loans at high interest rates. |
| The ministry's reports show that the cost of constructing a new house is much more than the assistance and suggested that Rs 40,000 should be given in some areas. |
| "The beneficiaries have to take loans or leave the construction of the house mid-way," an official said. |
| Even for hilly states, the additional Rs 2,500 does not help much. "As transport costs in hilly areas are high, there is a need to increase the help to Rs 40,000 (per beneficiary)," a report from the North-East said. |
| Besides, in some states, the rural poor are opting for government housing schemes. |
| "In Andhra Pradesh, the state government schemes are proposed in the villages with more subsidies, which are opted by the villagers," the ministry report said. The ministry's proposal is a result of these observations. |
| Since its inception in 1985-86 to February this year, about 15.4 million houses have been constructed under the scheme at an expenditure of Rs 29,352 crore. |
| The funding is shared between the Centre and the state on a 75:25 ratio. |
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