 "Govt to treble grant under rural housing scheme")
To enable people in rural areas build bigger houses under the newly launched Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), the government has initiated discussions with banks, financial institutions and the Reserve Bank of India to facilitate loans of up to Rs 75,000 over and above the sanctioned amount.
In the earlier Indira Awas Yojana, a central grant of Rs 70,000 was being given for rural houses per unit in plains, while for hilly areas, this sum was around Rs 75,000.
This will push up the total grant facilitated by the Centre for the construction of houses in rural areas to Rs 2,25,000 per unit, both through direct and indirect methods.
Of this, an amount of Rs 1,20,000 is granted directly for construction of the house, while Rs 18,000 is provided by way of labour under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
An additional sum of Rs 12,000 is given to each house constructed under the scheme for building toilets under the Swachh Mission, making the total grant given by the government under various heads in rural areas to Rs 150,000 per units. The remaining Rs 75,000 will be facilitated through loans from banks. In hilly areas, a sum of Rs 160,000 is being arranged as grants through various schemes.
The new scheme seeks to subsume the Indira Awas Yojana, under which so far around 35.1 million houses have been constructed.
Officials said the ministry of rural development recently held a series of meetings with bankers to facilitate the availability of the additional loan, as there has been a demand from some quarters for bigger houses under the scheme. At present, a house of minimum 25 sq mtr is permitted to be constructed under the programme. Earlier, this limit was just 20 sq mtr. The banks on their part, some officials said, were of the view that any unsecured loan of such small amount would be difficult to disburse, and hence some collateral is needed.
To sidestep this, the Centre is also planning to approach the micro-finance institutions (MFIs) to enable beneficiaries avail the additional loan. MFIs have a better and wider network than most commercial banks, at least in the rural areas. Officials said the Centre might even consider subsidising the interest on such housing loans to attract commercial banks from providing these loans.
“A number of options are being worked out to see identified beneficiaries under the scheme are not denied the chance to own a house under the PMAY just for a want of funds,” a senior official said.
The Centre plans to build around 10 million pucca houses in rural areas in the next three years under the scheme. A sum of Rs 82,000 crore has been sanctioned for the scheme and is part of Prime Minister Modi’s ambitious programme of providing ‘Housing for All’ by 2022. The urban component for the programme is being handled by the ministry of urban development.
The Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC-2011) is being used extensively for the identification of the beneficiaries under the programme. The scheme would be implemented in rural areas throughout India except Delhi and Chandigarh. The cost of houses would be shared between the Centre and states in the ratio of 60:40 in plains, and 90:10 in hilly areas.
HOMING IN ON LOANS
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Total grant for the construction of houses in rural areas under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to go up to Rs 2,25,000 per unit
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In the earlier Indira Awas Yojana, a central grant of Rs 70,000 was being given for rural houses per unit in plains, while for hilly areas, this sum was around Rs 75,000
