Housing is universally recognized as a basic human need. Reducing rural housing shortage and improving the quality of housing, especially for the poor is an important component of the poverty alleviation strategy of the Government.
Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Government of India committed to building and providing pucca houses to change the living conditions of poor people in rural areas, and launched thePradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G)in 2016.
So far, over 3.04 Crore pucca houses have been built in rural areas in the last nine years. Among the houses targeted for building under PMAY (G), 75% belong to the ST, SC or Minority communities. Further,7 out of 10 housesare either solely or jointly owned by women, which in turn has fulfilled the aspirations of women of owning a pucca house and strengthened their participation in the financial decision-making of the household.
Houses built under PMAY-G have provision of basic amenities like toilet, electricity, piped drinking water, clean & efficient cooking fuel (LPG), etc. When people actively participate in building their own houses and have access to these amenities, they feel a strong connection to their homes, making it a place where they truly belong and feel emotionally attached.
As is evident, PMAY-G has shown significant progress since its inception. The scheme has adopted measures to increase the pace of house completion, including timely allocation of targets, monitoring using IT tools, regular reviews, and timely release of funds. It has also focused on quality construction by training rural masons and providing region-specific house designs.