Why in the News?

• The Maharashtra government is going to provide an additional subsidy of Rs 50,000 for homes in rural areas under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

Key Points:

Approval of Additional Subsidy:

=> The state Chief Minister approved the decision to provide an additional subsidy.

=> The Maharashtra government allocated funds for this subsidy in the 2025-26 budget.

Increased Financial Support:

=> The State Rural Development Minister announced that the additional subsidy would raise the total financial assistance per beneficiary to Rs 2.1 lakh.

=> The State government will bear the cost of this additional subsidy.

=> The government aims to complete 20 lakh housing units within a year.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana:

Launch:

• To achieve the objective of “Housing for All” by 2022, the erstwhile rural housing scheme Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) was restructured to Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) from 1st April 2016, as a centrally sponsored scheme.

Ministry Involved:

• Ministry of Rural Development.

Objective:

• The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana aims to address housing shortages in urban and rural areas.
• The scheme prioritizes economically weaker sections and low-income groups.
• It follows a demand-driven approach, allowing States and Union Territories to approve projects based on identified eligible beneficiaries.

Beneficiaries:

• People belonging to SCs/STs, freed bonded labourers and non-SC/ST categories, widows or next-of-kin of defence personnel killed in action, ex-servicemen and retired members of the paramilitary forces, disabled persons and minorities.

Selection of Beneficiaries:

• Through a three-stage validation such as Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011, Gram Sabha, and geo-tagging.