Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana is one of the most intriguing efforts of the Government of India to stamp out social disparity. It intends to provide housing of all by the year 2022. It was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25th June 2015. The mission is to construct 2 crore houses at the final stage of the scheme.
Preference will be given to female members while allotting houses under this scheme. Simply put as compared to male beneficiaries, application of female beneficiaries will be accepted more easily. This makes the scheme a pro-woman scheme. Differently abled or aged people will be given first preference while allotting ground floor houses.
A subsidy on loan interest will be granted to people from LIG and EWS segments of urban population. This would allow people to buy a house under PMAY scheme. The subsidy will range between 1 lakh and 2.30 lakh.
There is no doubt that the Government of India 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.
