Centre Eases Exclusion Criteria for PMAY-Gramin: New Eligibility Norms Explained

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What’s in today’s article?

Why in News?
What is Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G)?
Relaxed norms under PMAY-Gramin

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 is 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:
- 1.00 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
- However, some exclusions remain, 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.

Q.1. What is the new eligibility criteria under PMAY-Gramin?

\Under PMAY-Gramin, families owning two-wheelers, motorised boats, refrigerators, or landline phones, and those earning up to Rs 15,000 per month, are now eligible to apply for rural housing benefits.

Q.2. How does the Centre plan to meet its new rural housing target?

The Centre aims to construct two crore additional rural houses by 2028-29, adjusting the eligibility norms to help achieve this goal under the Housing for All initiative.