Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY)

Eleventh Five Year Plan: Though the earliest housing programme taken up by the GoI was for rehabilitation of refugees immediately after the partition of the country, the government started implementing its major housing scheme of IAY as an independent scheme only from 1 January 1996. In the present form, IAY is one of the very popular schemes of the MoRD and has caught the imagination of the rural people. The popularity can be attributed to the fact that the scheme enables beneficiaries to participate and involve themselves in construction of their home. The role of the State Government is confined to mere facilitating use of local, low cost, environment-friendly, and disaster resistant technology and also in encouraging construction of sanitary latrine and smokeless chulha. There is no prescribed design or technology and no contractors are involved. Funds are released in instalments directly to the beneficiaries and there is no credit portion as part of the assistance which enable timely release of funds. The beneficiaries construct the houses as per their own choice of design, technology, and requirement. Not surprisingly, evaluation studies reveal high levels of occupancy and satisfaction. To introduce transparency, the selection of beneficiaries which was being done through the gram sabhas is now expected to be from the permanent IAY waitlists. These lists are prepared based on the ranking given to families as part of the BPL Census 2002. Further, 60% of the IAY funds are earmarked for SC/STs, 3% for persons with disability, and 15% for minorities. It is expected that all houses will be sanctioned in the name of women or jointly with the husband. These provisions have enabled effective targeting of the weaker sections and the scheme has succeeded in empowering the poorest. Though selection had to be done by the gram sabhas, studies have revealed that 25% to 50% of the beneficiaries are not being selected through the gram sabhas. Further, the selection as well as allocation among Panchayats has been influenced by the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) / Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs). The vocal and active segments of beneficiaries influence the selection process because of the limited allotment under IAY. In the process, the poorest among BPL households are left out, and non-BPL families also get selected for the IAY houses. Besides, collection of illegal gratification of selection by PRIs is a common complaint often heard at the field level, as brought to light by several studies. Moreover, only beneficiaries who have house-sites are selected and thus, the very poor who do not have a plot of land get out from the purview of the scheme. This is a serious problem, since these are the people who are the most vulnerable. Some 8 million of the 14 million houseless are actually those who have no land, or live on homes located on land belonging to others (e.g., landlords, public land, etc.). The focus of the IAY programme must be on the houseless (e.g., such communities as the Saharyas, Musahars, the so called de-notified tribes, those living on canal bunds or roads, and other such who are seen to be at the bottom of the social ladder). Studies have revealed that only about 50% of IAY houses have sanitary latrines and even a lesser percentage have installed smokeless chulhas. This is a serious problem. Over a million women and children not only suffer from upper respiratory tract infections due to inhaling of indoor smoke but many die as a result. In addition, India is one of the countries in the world with much of its population not having access to sanitary means of excreta disposal (despite the existence of Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), another Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), which is part of the Bharat Nirman set of programmes). Houses built as part of the Central Government’s own programmes, like IAY, need to succeed in building smokeless chulhas and sanitary latrines. The quality of life may not improve despite the construction of new houses unless there is provision for infrastructure. There is a need to provide a minimum level of infrastructure such as internal road, drainage, water supply stand post, along with the provision of houses by way of convergence of schemes. According to the Annual Report (2007-2008), Department of Rural Development, the IAY houses are expected to be invariably allotted in the name of women or in the joint names of husband and wife. (pg 73, Annual Report). However, Annexure XXVIII on pg 243 of the Annual Report, which provides State wise physical achievements of the IAY mentions that 165237 houses were allotted in the name of men. The XI Five Year Plan too notes that ‘the title of the house site tends to be in the name of the male member of the household. Hence the benefit to accrue to women by allotment of the scheme is restricted only for the purpose of the scheme sanction. Some effort to ensure clear cut ownership in the name of women needs to be made’. The Annual Report states that the total number of Dwelling Units completed during the period 2007- 08 (upto December 2007) was 10,63,920 out of which 8,123 (1.76%) houses were allotted in the name of disabled persons. Annexure XXVIII on pg 243 of the Annual Report, which provides State wise physical achievements of the IAY as on 12.02.2008 mentions that 8,877 physically/ mentally challenged persons benefited from the scheme. Utilisation of funds, though provided separately for SC/ST/Minority/Others, has not been provided separately for disabled beneficiaries.