Why in news?

Pulling up the States for the delay in completion of the Narendra Modi government’s flagship rural household scheme — Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) — the Union Ministry of Rural Development has come up with a set of penalties that the State governments will have to bear for any further delay.

Highlights:

• Opposition-ruled West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, along with BJP-ruled Assam, are the leading four States who are far behind their targets.
• This is the first time, since the scheme started in April 2016 with a target of constructing 2.95 crore houses, that the Union Government has introduced a penalty clause.
• The initial deadline for the scheme was March 2022, which owing to the COVID-19 pandemic was extended by another two years till March 2024.
• As per the statistics available with the Union Ministry of Rural Development, till August 2022, 2.02 crore houses have been constructed.

Penalty clauses.

• If the sanction of the house is delayed for more than one month from the date of issue of the target, the State government will be penalised ₹10 per house for the first month of delay and ₹20 per house for each subsequent month of delay.
• Similarly, if the first instalment due to the beneficiary is delayed for more than seven days from the date of sanction, then the State governments will have to pay ₹10 per house per week of delay.

About Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin)

• The Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) was introduced with the view to boost the “Housing for All” scheme. The central government came up with the vision to fulfil the ‘Housing for All’ scheme by the year 2022.
• The main aim of the PMAY-G scheme is to provide pucca house with some of the basic amenities. This scheme is meant for people who do not own a house and people who live in kutcha houses or houses which are severely damaged. At present, the minimum size of the houses to be built under the PMAY-G scheme has been increased to 25 sq. mt. from 20 sq. mt.

PMAYG Subsidy Scheme

• Under the scheme, beneficiaries can avail a loan of up to Rs.70,000 from financial institutions.
• Interest subsidy is 3%
• The maximum principal amount for the subsidy is Rs.2 lakh
• The maximum amount of subsidy that can be availed is Rs.38,359 for the EMI payable

Features of PMAYG Scheme

The salient features of the PMAYG scheme are as follows:

• The cost of the unit will be shared in a 60:40 ratio between the Central and State governments in plain areas, i.e., Rs.1.20 lakh of assistance for each unit.
• In the Himalayan states, northeastern states, and the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu & Kashmir, the ratio is 90:10 with up to Rs.1.30 lakh of assistance for each unit.
• 100% financing from the Centre for Union Territories including the UT of Ladakh.
• Beneficiaries are provided Rs.90.95 per day of unskilled labor from MGNREGS.
• Beneficiaries are identified using parameters from Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) and verified by Gram Sabhas.
• Assistance for construction of toilets of up to Rs.12,000 to be provided under Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G) in collaboration with MGNREGS or other schemes.
• Payments are made electronically directly to bank accounts or post office accounts that are linked to Aadhaar.

PMAYG Eligibility Requirements

The following are the eligibility criteria, which include specific deprivation scores and different priority lists:

• Houseless families
• Families with houses having zero, one, or two rooms with a kutcha wall and kutcha roof.
• Households without a literate adult above 25 years of age.
• Households without an adult male member aged between 16 and 59 years of age.
• Households without any adult member between 16 and 59 years of age.
• Households without any able-bodied members and with a disabled member.
• Landless households who derive income from casual labour.

• Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Others, and Minorities.