Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan Launched Various Schemes and Laid the Foundation Stone of 500 Km Long Newly Paved Roads in MP

On 8th October 2024, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), participated in the Rural Self Employment Programme organized by the MoRD at Bhairunda, Madhya Pradesh(MP). He has launched various schemes under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), aimed at enhancing rural infrastructure, employment, and housing across India.

• He also laid the foundation stone of 500 kilometer (km) long newly paved roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and also launched the Gram Sadak Survey and Planning tool.

Note: PMGSY was launched on 25th December, 2000 by the former Prime Minister (PM) of India, Atal Bihar Vajpayee. It aims to provide all-weather road connectivity to unconnected villages of India. It is being implemented by the MoRD and state governments.

Key People: Mohan Yadav, Chief Minister (CM) of MP; Minister of State (MoS)Kamlesh Paswan, MoRD; Prahlad Patel, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, MP; Shailesh Kumar, Secretary, MoRD and other senior officials from MoRD and state government were present at the event.

Key Initiatives launched :

i.He launched the Awas Sakhi mobile application (app) for the beneficiaries of PMAY and has also launched Community Managed Training Centres (CMTCs)about 100 of which are being rolled out across 18 states in the country.

ii.The GoI has initiated a survey of kutcha houses across India to identify new beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G). 

• The survey is expected to be completed within 6 months and those living in kutcha houses will get qualified for pucca (all-weather) houses under PMAY-G.

iii.Also, the GoI has relaxed the eligibility criteria for PMAY-G like: people who owns bikes or scooters can now make it to the beneficiary list; people who earns up to Rs 15,000 per month will now be eligible for the scheme (previously, the monthly income limit was Rs 10,000).

iv.Also, farmers with irrigated land up to 2.5 acres and non-irrigated land up to 5 acres are eligible to avail the benefits of PMAY.

About PMAY:

i.Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is a flagship scheme of GoI, launched by PM Narendra Modi on 25th June, 2015. The scheme has two main components: PMAY-Urban(PMAY-U) and PMAY-Gramin(PMAY-G).

ii.Its primary objective is to provide affordable housing which means providing pucca houses to all eligible households with basic amenities by the year 2022 on the eve 75th Independence Day of India.

iii.Initially, the key target of the scheme was to construct 2 crores houses by 2022. Later, GoI announced to extend the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Urban(PMAY-U) till 31st December, 2024. It is implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

iii.PMAY-G is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), which was introduced in 2016. It is being implemented by MoRD.

• It aims to construct 2.95 crore pucca houses with basic amenities to eligible rural households by March, 2024.
• In August 2024, the union cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi had approved Rs 3.06 lakh crore to construct 3 crore houses across the country over the next 5 years, of which 2 crore houses will be constructed under the PMAY-G.

Other Key Points:

i.While addressing the event, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan announced that along with Ladli Behna, the campaign to make Lakhpati Didi will also run across the country.

• So far, Rs 100 crore have been allocated for the Lakhpati Didi initiative.

Note: Lakhpati Didi refers to every Didi should have an income of over Rs 10,000 per month.

About Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD):
Union Minister- Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Constituency- Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, MP)
Minister of State (MoS)- Chandra Shekhar Pemmasani (Constituency- Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, AP) and Kamlesh Paswan (Constituency- Bansgaon, Uttar Pradesh, UP)