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‘Housing for All’ scheme for 305 cities

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The Union government has identified 305 cities and towns across nine states for implementation of its ambitious ‘Housing for All‘ scheme – houses for the poor in urban areas. The government has set the target to provide houses to two crore families belonging to the economically weaker section (EWS) in urban areas by 2022.

The states that are likely to gain are –

  • Chhattisgarh (36 cities/towns)
  • Gujarat (30 cities/towns)
  • Jammu and Kashmir (19 cities/towns)
  • Jharkhand (15 cities/towns)
  • Kerala (15 cities/towns)
  • Madhya Pradesh (74 cities/towns)
  • Odisha (42 cities/towns)
  • Rajasthan (40 cities/towns)
  • Telangana (34 cities/towns)

Besides these nines states, six more states have signed Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Ministry committing themselves to implement six mandatory reforms essential for making the housing mission in urban areas a success. The states that have so far agreed to implement the mandatory reform measures are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttarakhand.

About the MoA:

The mandatory reforms that form part of the MoAs including the doing away with the requirement of separate non-agricultural permission in case land falls in residential zone earmarked in Master Plan of city or town and preparing or amending Master Plans earmarking land for affordable housing, among others.

Other reforms include putting in place a single-window and time-bound clearance system for layout approvals and building permissions, doing away with approvals below certain built-up area size in respect of economically weaker sections and low income groups.

Key Facts:

  • Union Government had launched this scheme named as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in June 2015 under the aegis of Housing for All Mission (2 crore houses) by 2022 – Coinciding with 75 years of Independence.
  • It has four basic components – slum rehabilitation, affordable housing, credit linked interest subsidy and beneficiary-led individual house construction or enhancement.
  • The government would provide an interest subsidy of 6.5% on housing loans availed by the beneficiaries for a period of 15 years from the start of loan.
  • The houses under PMAY would be allotted to preferably the female member of the family. Along with this, preference would be given to the female applicants, in general.
  • It will be implemented in three phases – April 2015 to March 2017, April 2017 to March 2019 and lastly April 2019 to March 2022.
  • PMAY will target specific groups from the society and they are – Women – irrespective of caste and religion, Economically Weaker Section of Society (EWS), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Scheduled Casts (SCs).