In News
- The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) celebrated 7 years of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U).
About
- The seventh-anniversary celebrations highlighted the important initiatives implemented under the PMAY-U Mission, which is one of the largest urban housing programmes in the world.
About PMAY-U
- The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) on 25th June 2015, as a flagship Mission of the Government of India.
- It addresses urban housing shortage among the Economically Weaker Section (EWS)/Low Income Group (LIG) category including the slum dwellers by ensuring a pucca house to eligible urban households.
- Eligibility
- An eligible beneficiary family will comprise a husband, wife, unmarried sons and/or unmarried daughters.
- The beneficiary family should not own a pucca house (an all-weather dwelling unit) either in his/her name or in the name of any member of his/her family in any part of India. An adult earning member (irrespective of marital status) can be treated as a separate household.
- Features
- PMAY-U adopts a demand-driven approach wherein the housing shortage is decided based on demand assessment by States/Union Territories (UTs).
- Components
- The scheme has hence been divided into four verticals as given below:
- In-situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR)
- Central Assistance of Rs. 1 lakh per house is admissible for all houses built for eligible slum dwellers under the component of ISSR using land as a Resource with the participation of private developers.
- Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS):
- Beneficiaries of Economically Weaker Section (EWS)/Low Income Group (LIG), Middle Income Group (MIG)-I and Middle Income Group (MIG)-II seeking housing loans from Banks, Housing Finance Companies and other such institutions for acquiring, new construction or enhancement* houses are eligible for an interest subsidy of 6.5%, 4% and 3% on loan amount up to Rs. 6 Lakh, Rs. 9 Lakh and Rs. 12 Lakh respectively.
- Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP):
- Under AHP, Central Assistance of Rs. 1.5 Lakh per EWS house is provided by the Government of India.
- An affordable housing project can be a mix of houses for different categories but it will be eligible for Central Assistance, if at least 35% of the houses in the project are for the EWS category.
- Beneficiary-led Individual House Construction/ Enhancement (BLC-N/ BLC-E)
- Central Assistance up to Rs. 1.5 lakh per EWS house is provided to eligible families belonging to EWS categories for individual house construction/ enhancement.
- The Urban Local Bodies validate the information and building plan submitted by the beneficiary so that ownership of land and other details like economic status and eligibility can be ascertained.
Issues /Challenges
- PMAY-U’s Credit Linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) component offers interest rate subvention on housing loans borrowed by the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), low and middle-income groups.
- However, the subvention amount is insufficient for private housing in major urban centres of tier-I cities.
- The government-driven EWS projects are mainly located on the periphery of cities, far away from the city’s key economic centres.
- These places are marked by a general lack of transport connectivity and other infrastructure facilities. This combination results in a lack of takers for these housing units.
- Slum redevelopment and EWS projects have made little progress for a lack of private sector interest.
Conclusion and Way Forward
- PMAY-U is certainly filling an important gap in India on the affordable housing front. However, given the overall financial implications for India, measures are certainly needed to ensure prudence and seek permanent solutions.
- For maintaining an adequate supply of land, it is imperative that necessary changes in land-use change policies are introduced at the state level
- PMAY must be made accessible to more people and there should be increased awareness.
- New construction technologies, which are adaptable, sustainable and low cost, can be used for creating large-scale affordable housing at a rapid pace and reach out to a larger audience.
Source: PIB
