Housing For All- A Comprehensive Introduction To The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Gramin – IMPRI Impact And Policy Research Institute

Policy Update
Sreyoshi Mitra

Introduction 

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana is a flagship housing scheme, launched in 2015. It is a Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme under which interest subsidy is provided on home loans taken by eligible beneficiaries. One segment of this scheme is the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Gramin. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin was launched on 20th November, 2016 and is a program by the Ministry of Rural Development, implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. PMAY-G aims to provide a “pucca” house with the basic amenities, such as a kitchen and a washroom, to those deprived of proper shelter and living in “kutcha” houses” in rural areas by the target year of 2024. The Scheme has been further expanded in 2025. The PMAY-G addresses the rural housing shortage and bridges the housing deficit in rural areas of India, contributing significantly to the mission of Housing for All. An important feature of the PMAY-G is the selection of beneficiaries. To ensure that help is given to those who are genuinely deprived and to ensure that the selection is completely unbiased and objective, the scheme selects beneficiaries using housing deprivation parameters underlined in the Socio-Economic and Caste Census, 2011. PMAY-G envisages the construction of quality houses by the beneficiaries themselves by using locally available construction materials, appropriate house design typologies and through trained rural masons. 

Key Features of the PMAY-G Scheme

1. Providing assistance for construction of 2.95 crore houses in rural areas over the period of 2016-17 to 2023-24.  
2. The minimum size of the house is 25 sq. mt., including a dedicated space for cooking and the assistance provided is 1.20 lakhs in the plains and 1.30 lakhs in hilly areas. 
3. The cost of the house assistance is to be shared between the Central and State governments.
4. Provision of assistance for toilets through convergence with the Swachh Bharat Mission- Gramin and the provision of low-skilled wage labour through the MGNREGA for construction of the house.
5. Identification and selection of beneficiaries through parametric data available from the SECC (Socio-Economic and Caste Census), 2011, to be validated by the respective Gram Sabhas. 
6. The beneficiaries of PMAY-G, in addition to being provided financial assistance, were also provided technical assistance in the construction of proper houses. 
7. All Payments/Transfer of assistance to beneficiaries shall be made only electronically to their Bank/Post office accounts that are linked to Aadhaar with consent. 
8. Focus on construction of quality houses by the beneficiaries, encouraging use of locally available construction materials and appropriate house design typologies and trained rural masons. 
9. Orienting PMAY-G beneficiaries towards the processes, financial assistance mechanism, appropriate house designs, suitable construction materials, green technologies and convergence with other schemes. 
10. To ensure quality of houses constructed, pan India training and certification programmes for rural masons. 

Functioning of the PMAY-Gramin Scheme

After expansion of the Scheme in 2025, the PMAY-G continues its noble mission of providing pucca houses with basic amenities to eligible rural beneficiaries. The functioning of this scheme involves a multi-pronged approach, including ongoing monitoring, financial assistance, convergence with other schemes and a new survey to identify additional beneficiaries. 

1. Monitoring and Quality Control: A robust monitoring mechanism has been adopted to monitor performance as well as the processes under PMAY-G. The scheme is closely monitored at all levels, with a focus on timely completion and the quality of construction. This includes geo-tagging and time-and-date stamped pictures of the site to effectively track the progress of the construction. There are also field visits by national monitors. 

2. Monitoring at the level of Government of India: This is done through IT enabled e-governance platforms including Dedicated Micro Monitoring Dashboard, Performance Index Dashboard, as well as through ground verifications by different agencies like Area Officers, National Level Monitors and DISHA. The PMAY-G also relies on Social Audits, which is a continuous and ongoing process, involving public vigilance and verification of implementation of the scheme. It is conducted in every Gram Panchayat at least once in a year, involving a mandatory review of all aspects.

3. Convergence with other schemes: The Scheme is designed to converge with other government initiatives like the MGNREGA for providing low-skilled wage labour and the Swachh Bharat Mission- Gramin for toilet construction. 

4. New AwaasSoft Survey: Performance monitoring is done through real time capture of progress using workflow enabled transactional data in AwaasSoft. The data generated from the transactions in AwaasSoft are collated as system generated reports for monitoring different parameters of performance. AwaasSoft generates many reports on different parameters based on the real time transactional data. All reporting under PMAY-G shall be through reports generated in AwaasSoft. The progress of the States/UTs under the scheme shall be monitored only through the reports generated from AwaasSoft. 

Performance of the PMAY-G Scheme

Source: https://pmayg.nic.in › netiay › PMAYGDashboard

1. This shows that out of a cumulative target of 3.84 crore houses, about 2.75 crore houses have been completed, achieving about 71% of the intended target.

2. A total of 3.65 crores have been sanctioned, with 3.88 crore beneficiaries registered. This shows that there is still a gap between registrations and those whose houses have been approved. 

3. It shows that almost all of the sanctioned houses have been geo-tagged, which is a measure to ensure transparency and accountability. 

4. However, a gap remains in fund allocation and subsequent release of the funds. 

5. The scheme is also focused on women empowerment, with about 74% of the total allocated houses being owned by, or jointly owned by, women. 

Implementation Gaps in the PMAY-G 

1. Improper execution in a few States: It is a centrally sponsored scheme and has an agreed upon sharing pattern between the States and the Centre. Some States delay their contribution which impacts progress. A deficit of about 200 crores was reported in the year 2020. The government needs to ensure the prompt release of state contribution and direct benefit transfer in the case of central funds. 

2. Access to finance: The amount given in subsidies is insufficient for building a new house from scratch in rural areas. A household needs access to sufficient funds to mitigate the shortage. The PMAY-G mission guideline provides for INR 70,000 loans through NABARD. Unfortunately, the progress is slow. Even large public sector banks like the State Bank of India (SBI) cannot access the needs and provide funds to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). Higher perceived risk and small profit margins prevent banks from creating a product targeting this segment. In this light, it becomes pertinent for the government to step in and ensure a steady supply of finance, which will help the uptake of the scheme. Some beneficiaries may also face financial difficulties in completing the construction, requiring assistance or loan arrangements which is not easy for them to get. 

3. Exclusion of landless farmers: Owning a plot of prerequisite to qualify as a beneficiary under the PMAY-G scheme. Correct identification of landless beneficiaries and providing them with land or some other provision so they can qualify for the PMAY-G is the responsibility of the state governments. Except for a few, most States are ignorant about this. Until the State governments formally recognise landless beneficiaries, the Central government does not offer financial assistance. The PMAY-G also does not have a separate vertical like PMAY-U to address the needs of the landless poor. Delay in the allotment of land remains an implementation gap. The landless are often the poorest of the poor and marginalised, and they get no benefits under the Scheme. 

4. Quality of housing: CAG’s audit of the Indira Awaas Yojana reported low housing quality as one of the significant drawbacks of the Scheme. A similar compromise was found in the houses constructed under this Scheme. The responsibility for the construction of the house rests with the beneficiary alone. The geo-tagging of dwellings ensures their construction but is silent on the quality of the houses constructed. The beneficiary is also not aware of the ideal way forward for construction. The ministry has provided ideal prototypes and construction plans and the low-skilled wage labour. However, there is no mechanism for ensuring its effectiveness on the ground.

5. Convergence of Schemes: The PMAY scheme emphasizes convergence with other government schemes like the construction of toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission, benefits to MGNREGA workers on completion of 90 days, drinking water connection under Jal Jeevan Mission, electricity connection and clean cooking fuel under Ujjwala Yojana. The aim is to provide basic amenities and assistance for house construction. However, various studies and CAG audit reports have pointed out that this is still lacking. The CAG’s reports on Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) have highlighted issues with convergence of PMAY-G with other schemes. These reports, such as Report No. 6 of 2022 and others, indicate that while convergence is encouraged to provide beneficiaries with additional benefits, it hasn’t been fully realized. 

The Way Forward for the PMAY-G Scheme

The way forward for this scheme involves addressing some of the most pertinent issues in implementation. It includes a provision for landless farmers and labourers so they are able to avail the scheme and become its beneficiaries. The problems of finance, especially insufficient amount for construction, and poor execution by the State and Centre should be addressed. Misuse of funds should be addressed by ensuring that assistance is directly transferred to the beneficiary’s bank account. The identification of beneficiaries should be based on the latest available data, ensuring that the most vulnerable households benefit from the scheme.

Verification of beneficiaries at the Gram Sabha should be treated as a crucial step to ensure transparency and prioritisation of the most vulnerable groups. Establishing grievance redressal mechanisms, social audits and community participation should be strongly encouraged. There should also be more stringent quality control and inspection of the houses being built. Houses should also be designed in a region- and cultural-sensitive way, and in a climate-resilient and cost-effective way. The greening of PMAY-G aims at contributing towards a cleaner and healthier India and the scheme encourages adoption of green design and technologies, appropriate to local culture and geo-climatic conditions and use of local materials. This is an important aspect of the way forward as it is envisaged that the green PMAY-G designs and technologies will influence rural housing in general and enable rural India to emerge with sustainable housing with green and disaster resilient features in the future. 

By implementing the aforementioned recommendations, the way forward for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Gramin Scheme should become smoother and bring about more positive change. 

References

1. Comptroller and Auditor General of India. (2022). Performance Audit on implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin. In Government of Tamil Nadu (p. vii).
2. Datta, S. & T.C.S. (n.d.). DISCUSSION ON problem facing during implementation.
3. Minister & Minister. (2022). Framework for Implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G).
4. OBSERVER RESEARCH FOUNDATION. (n.d.). The Centre needs to rethink the PMAY-G scheme. orfonline.org. https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/the-centre-needs-to-rethink-the-pmay-g-scheme
5. Power Bi Dashboard | Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin. (n.d.). https://pmayg.nic.in/netiay/PBIDashboard/PMAYGDashboard.aspx
6. PRADHAN MANTRI AWAS YOJANA-GRAMIN (PMAY-G) | Ministry of Rural Development | Government of India. (n.d.). https://rural.gov.in/en/press-release/pradhan-mantri-awas-yojana-gramin-pmay-g
7. Reddy, W. R., Ramesh, R., SivaRam, P., Centre for Rural Infrastructure, & National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR). (2018). Impact Assessment of PMAY-G (Madhya Pradesh, Odisha & West Bengal). In National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR). https://pmayg.nic.in/netiayHome/Document/PMAY-G-Research-Report-(NIRD&PR).pdf

About the author : Sreyoshi Mitra is a research intern at the Impact and Policy Research Institute. She is currently pursuing a one-year course in Public Policy, Design and Management from the Indian School of Public Policy in Hauz Khas, New Delhi. She has a Master’s in Sociology and is equipped with critical thinking and research skills, focused on applying sociological insights to policy advocacy and passionate about contributing to impactful policy research and policy development.

Acknowledgements : The author sincerely thanks Ms. Aasthaba Jadeja and the team at IMPRI for their valuable inputs and contribution. 

Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.

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