Modi 3.0 cabinet clears 30 million more houses under PMAY in its first decision

The new Cabinet in its very first meeting on Monday approved a proposal to build 30 million more homes for urban and rural poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), according to an official statement.

The maiden meeting was attended by ministers of all constituents of the National Democratic Alliance and chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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"It has been decided in the Cabinet meeting today to provide assistance to three crore additional rural and urban households for the construction of houses to meet the housing requirements arising out of the increase in the number of eligible families," the official statement read.

To be sure, the government has been implementing Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana since 2015-16 to provide assistance to eligible rural and urban households for the construction of houses with basic amenities.

A total of 42.1 million houses have been completed for eligible poor families under the scheme in the last 10 years.

Basic amenities ensured

All homes built under PMAY come with basic amenities such as toilets, cooking gas and electricity connections, and tap water through convergence with other schemes of the Central and state governments.

The move comes even as the government has launched a new housing scheme under PMAY (Urban) in the form of interest subvention for urban poor and middle-class people, which is set to end in December 2024. 

The new announcement is set to lead to a resumption of construction of homes under the older scheme, given that the government was aiming to complete homes already sanctioned, rather than sanctioning new ones. So, far 11.8 million houses have been sanctioned under the scheme, of which 8.35 million have been completed, according to the website of the scheme.

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Further, under PMAY (Gramin), which is under the rural development ministry, the government had set a target to construct 29.5 million houses by 31 March, 2024. According to the ministry, as of November 2023, over 29.4 million houses had been sanctioned, of which 25 million have been completed.

Both the housing schemes have been flagship welfare schemes of the government.

Benefiting farmers

Earlier in the day, in his first file clearance, the prime minister authorized the release of the 17th instalment of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi funds, amounting to nearly ₹20,000 crore, which aimed at benefiting 93 million farmers.

“Ours is a government fully committed to ‘kisan kalyan’ (farmers’ welfare). It is, therefore, fitting that the first file signed on taking charge is related to it. We want to keep working even more for farmers and the agriculture sector in the times to come,” Modi said.

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The decision signifies the government's commitment to farmers' welfare following the NDA's poll win, albeit with some setbacks in rural India.

Modi was sworn in as prime minister on Sunday for a record-equaling third consecutive term, and now heads a 72-member council of ministers. On Sunday, he chose continuity over radical change, placing his trust in top lieutenants Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, S. Jaishankar, and Piyush Goyal in the Union cabinet.

Five key allies along with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janata Dal (United) secured one cabinet post each as Modi took charge as the head of a coalition government.