Houses Sanctioned Under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Urban)

25 Jul 2019

On 25^th July, 2019, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs approved the construction of around 1, 40,134 more affordable houses for the benefit of urban poor under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY-Urban).
The approval was given in the 45^th meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee(CSMC). The cumulative number of houses sanctioned under PMAY(U) now is 85,11,574.

States Sanctioned under PMAY-URABN

CSMC considered proposals from 8 States-

Uttar Pradesh (54,277)
West Bengal (26,585)
Gujarat (26,183)
Maharashtra (8,499)
Assam (9,328)
Chhattisgarh (6,507)
Rajasthan (4,947)
Haryana (3,808)

PradhanMantriAwasYojana(PMAY)

It was launched in June 2015 with an objective to provide affordable housing to urban and rural poor.

Aim:

It aims to achieve its objective of “Housing for All” by 31 March 2022”,by constructing 20 million houses across the nation, when the nation completes 75 years of its Independence

This Yojana has two parts –

PradhanMantriAwasYojana Urban (PMAY-U)
PradhanMantriAwasYojanaGramin (PMAY-G)

Components of PMAY-

There are four primary components of this scheme:

Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS): It provides subsidies on home loan interest rates to those eligible for this scheme.Home loans under the CLSS have a maximum tenor of 20 years.
In-situ Slum Redevelopment using the Land as a Resource: It aims to rehabilitate slums with the land as a resource, with association with private organisations to provide houses to families living in such areas.
Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP):It provides financial assistance to the tune of Rs. 1.5 Lakh on behalf of the Central Government to EWS families for the purchase of houses. State and UTs can partner with their agencies or private sector to develop such housing projects.
Individual House Construction or Enhancement led by beneficiaries:It targets economically weaker sections(EWS) families who cannot avail the benefits of the previous three components. Such beneficiaries will avail financial assistance from the Central Government of up to Rs. 1.5 Lakh that can be used to fund the construction of a house or enhancing an existing one.

Groups Eligible for PMAY

The following individuals and families are eligible for this scheme:

Economically Weaker Section (EWS):Families with an annual income up to Rs. 3 Lakh.
Low Income Group (LIG):Families with an annual income between Rs. 3 Lakh and Rs. 6 Lakh.
Middle Income Group I (MIG I): Families within an annual income between Rs. 6 Lakh and Rs. 12 Lakh.
Middle Income Group II (MIG II): Families with an annual income between Rs. 6 Lakh and Rs. 12 Lakh.
Women belonging to EWS and LIG categories.
Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Class (OBC)

Challenges in PMAY Implementation

Scarcity of Land

Urban land mass is under severe constraint to meet the housing necessity of the country’s population which is expanding rapidly. This is amongst the foremost reasons for slow progress of this initiative. In addition, a large portion of the city land is locked under slums and other congested areas.

Unmaintained Property Records

Land and property records are currently not digitized and remain in poor condition. This continues to be a major hindrance in the execution of the scheme laid out by PMAY. With most of the people dwelling in ancestral homes and the ownership in the name of their deceased parents or the slum dwellers with no property rights, such subsidies could not be availed.

To complicate things further, land records are governed by the State’s revenue department. Citizensare unable to obtain their property documents easily, ending up being deprived of the scheme’s benefits.

Delayed Project Approvals

Lengthy and cloudy approval process has often been cited as a major barrier towards curbing the cost of realty projects. In exorbitant cities like Mumbai and Delhi, the unnecessary delay is known to escalate the project cost by almost 30 percent.

Lack of Clear Communication & Co-ordination

In a project of this magnitude it is important for all the parties concerned to communicate effectively so that there is no confusion. This is a major issue in implementation because times experts from various fields do not interact with each other. For instance, it is not possible to conceive a project or plan transportation without understanding the commute patterns in a city. So, co-ordination amongst the implementing agencies will be extremely important for a project of this magnitude.

Lack of Infrastructure

City fringes lack infrastructure, modes of transport and even employment opportunities. In the absence of work and means to commute, the purpose of developing low-cost homes is defeated as homebuyers, who are mostly dependent on public infrastructure.

Suggestions to Overcome Challenges

Ease of Land Availability: The government needs to regularly release land parcels for affordable housing projects, identified within municipal limits and bring more peripheral lands into developable limits of the city authorities.
Updating Property Records: States need to simplify the process of updating property records. This will allow all citizens to obtain legal documents to their land and property in order to fully embrace the subsidy features of PMAY and access credit, which will enable them to upgrade their housing.
Investing in Infrastructure: Focus also needs to be on providing the necessary connectivity and social infrastructure, to allow these projects to develop as habitable and vibrant communities.
Dedicated Approval Window for Affordable Housing: Building approval process needs to be streamlined; a separate fast-track process needs to be put in place for affordable housing projects. For affordable housing to work, accelerating the building approval processes is critical, in order to limit the gestation period and the associated costs.
Synchronizing Central and State Policies: There is an urgent need for alignment of state level affordable housing policies with the central government policies to remove ambiguities around availing central incentives, while ensuring compliance with the state policies.
Strengthening Micro-Finances: The government needs to improve the institutional environment for the lower income categories to access housing microfinance and other financial tools.
Use of Advanced Technologies: There is a need for developers to invest in innovative construction technologies to promote mass housing developments at subsidized construction costs. Portable modular housing units and prefabricated construction technology are some techniques that could be looked at to address affordable housing needs.

Global Housing Technology Challenge-India(GTHC-India)

To make constructing affordable houses in India cost-effective, speedier and of high quality, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched the GHTC-India in January, 2019, in New Delhi.
The aim of the initiative is to fast-track the construction of affordable housing and meets the target of constructing 10 million urban homes by 2022.

It has three components:

Conduct of Grand Expo-cum-Conference
Identifying Proven Demonstrable Technologies from across the world
Promoting Potential Technologies through setting up incubation centers at selected IITs and organizing accelerator workshops under the Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators- India (ASHA-India) Program.

Way Forward

There is no doubt that the Government has taken strides in the right direction to make housing for all a reality. However, the scale of the problem requires more radical thinking on the part of the government in its bid to include the private sector and provide an enabling ecosystem to give the much needed impetus to affordable housing development in the country.
Although affordable housing for all in India still has a great distance to cover; an integrated and holistic approach from the concerned stakeholders would help the country in realising the daunting challenges and fulfilling the government’s aim of Housing for All by 202