On June, 2014, addressing the Joint Session of Parliament, the President of India, Shri Parnab Mukharjee, had announced “By the time the Nation completes 75 years of its independence, every family will have a Pucca house with water connection, toilet facilities, 24X7 electricity supply and access. He was, ipso facto, introducing the Prime Minister’s visinory programme namely, ‘Housing For All(HFA) by 2022’.
Background
In fact the scheme, ‘ Housing For All (HFA) by 2022’, when the Nation is going to complete 75 years of Independence, is the brain child of our visionary Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. And in order to accomplish this objective, the Union Government has initiated a comprehensive mission “Housing For All by 2022” via Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), who is implementing Housing For All , has suggested some options that are available to States/Union Territories and cities.
These options include advancement of affordable housing for weaker section of society through credit linked subsidy; affordable housing in partnership with public and private sectors; Slum rehabilitation with participation of private developers in which land would be used as a resources; and subsidy for beneficiary-led housing enhancement through repairing.
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Beneficiaries of Housing For All
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana has decided to target specific groups from the society. These groups include Economically Weaker Section of Society (EWS); women, irrespective of caste and religion; scheduled Caste (SC); and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
The Government of India has announced that, under Housing For All, it would grant a subsidy to people from the above mentioned groups in order to make them able to buy a home for themselves and their families. The amount that is going to be distributed in the form of subsidy may vary from 1 lakh to 2.30 lakh, depending on the total cost of the house.
To maintain the spirit of federalism the Mission Housing For All is going to cater flexibility to states for selecting best options amongst its four verticles (discussed in the same piece under beneficiaries section) to fulfill the demand of housing in their states. It has been left to the states to prepare the process of project formulation and approval by following the guidelines of the Mission ‘ Housing For All by 2022’. It has been done with a view that in this way the projects can be formulated, approved and implemented faster.
It has been promised by the Government of India that, in order to implement the practice of ‘transparency in doing business’, the Mission ‘ Housing For All by 2022’ is going to develop a virtual platform to procure suggestions and inputs on the design of the house, content and quality of materials, the use of technologies and other elements that are concerned with Urban housing.
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