Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second term is nearing completion, and his government is already preparing the agenda for the first 100 days after the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Needless to say, both the Modi government and the BJP are exuding confidence and are certain to win the general elections comfortably. Morning Consult’s recent numbers show that Narendra Modi has emerged yet again as the most popular leader in the world, clocking no less than 78 per cent in approval ratings. However, the confidence of victory does not mean that the guard has come down. Instead, the Modi government has set an ambitious goal of achieving total saturation and last-mile delivery of all flagship developmental and welfare schemes.
In line with the same, the PM Awas Yojana, among Modi’s most ambitious projects, is set to witness the completion of construction of 29.5 million houses by March. This will ensure that every rural family has a home by the end of next month – if the plan stays on track. This is on top of the 7.6 million houses that the NDA government had built under the Indira Awas Yojana between 2014 and 2016.
The pace of home construction under the project is noteworthy. The Modi government is set to surpass the construction of 37 million rural houses by March, compared to about 32 million under the Indira Awas Yojana over 29 years. The timelines are stark. It took the Indira Awas Yojana three decades to build 32 million houses. PM Awas Yojana surpassed that number by 5 million well within 10 years. Interestingly, this is on top of the 7.6 million houses that the Modi government had built under the Indira Awas Yojana between 2014 and 2016. Cumulatively, about 4.5 families have got a pucca house of their own since 2014.
Two crore additional houses will be built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) over the next five years. The scheme, executed under the Union Ministry for Rural Development (MoRD), provides assistance in building pucca houses and basic amenities to eligible beneficiaries in rural areas.
Additionally, the Modi government is also working on a new home loan interest subsidy scheme for low and middle-income groups, with a special focus on urban India. The home loan interest subsidy scheme will replace the discontinued Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS). Reuters had reported last year that an annual interest subsidy between 3 to 6.5 per cent on up to Rs 9 lakh of the loan amount may be provided under the new scheme. This subsidy may be available on home loans below Rs 50 lakh, availed for a tenure of 20 years. Essentially, the government is going to make home loans cheaper for lower-income groups, in order to incentivise them to buy or construct houses.
Not Just a Pucca House, Indians Are Now Getting Wholesome Homes
About 70 per cent of the beneficiaries of this scheme are women. In March last year, the Prime Minister had said that 20 million women have received ownership rights under the PM Awas Yojana. This shows women have been major beneficiaries of the housing scheme.
The initiatives to provide houses to Indians who need them the most cannot be seen in isolation. They must be seen in tandem with other government initiatives which have helped improve the overall quality of life for crores of ordinary Indians. Today, households across India are equipped with basic necessities that remained absent for much of the population, especially in rural areas, since independence.
- Jal Jeevan and Har Ghar Jal Missions are helping provide safe, clean water to all households.Over 13 crore households have been provided with a tap water connection under this initiative.
- Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, under which crores of toilets have been built across India, has helped increase sanitation coverage.As a result, the country is today cent per cent open defecation free.
- Ujjwala Yojana is providing families with LPG connections & Saubhagya schemeis helping India provide electricity to all its villages.
The Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, flagged off in November last year, has proven instrumental for the Centre to reach out directly to beneficiaries of its initiatives and ensure saturation of all flagship schemes. The Yatra has so far covered 782 districts spread across 36 states and Union Territories. It has connected with over 19 crore citizens across 19,000 urban centres and over 2.6 lakh gram panchayats.
The delivery of government projects, like houses for all, is perhaps one of the main reasons behind PM Modi’s unflinching approval ratings. As government schemes achieve saturation ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the momentum in Modi’s favour is likely to continue and, in fact, gain more muscle. Modi’s high approval ratings are hardly surprising. The BJP has created a new and largely loyal voter base for itself – that of the ‘labhartis’. These are direct beneficiaries of the Modi government’s welfare and development schemes. A majority of these labhartis – numbers of whom run into crores – hail from underprivileged and marginalised backgrounds and communities. These are people who rarely witnessed a proactive government that was bringing development right to their doorstep. Having been deprived of the most basic of services since independence, these are people who have seen their lives change for the better – all in a matter of 10 years.
Providing pucca houses to all Indian families, whether in urban areas or villages, is part of the larger plan to make India a developed nation by 2047. When people get homes with all the necessary amenities, the overall standard of living rises. This is key to India scoring better on the Human Development Index.
Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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