PMAY

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is the Union Government's centrally sponsored housing scheme launched to realise the goal of "Housing for All." It operates as two distinct verticals: PMAY-Urban (PMAY-U), launched on 25 June 2015 under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and PMAY-Gramin (PMAY-G), launched on 20 November 2016 (with effect from 1 April 2016) under the Ministry of Rural Development, which restructured the earlier Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) that had run since 1985. Beneficiaries under PMAY-G are identified using the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data, validated by Gram Sabhas, while PMAY-U targets urban poor including slum dwellers, EWS, LIG and MIG categories.

PMAY-U works through four verticals: In-situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR) using land as a resource; Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) providing interest subsidy of 3–6.5% on home loans for EWS/LIG/MIG; Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) with central assistance of ₹1.5 lakh per EWS house; and Beneficiary-Led Construction (BLC). PMAY-G provides unit assistance of ₹1.20 lakh in plain areas and ₹1.30 lakh in hilly/difficult/IAP areas, with a minimum house size of 25 sq. m., cost-shared between Centre and States (60:40 in plains, 90:10 in NE and Himalayan states). It converges with the Swachh Bharat Mission for toilets and MGNREGA for 90/95 days of unskilled labour wages, plus LPG (Ujjwala), electricity (Saubhagya) and Jal Jeevan Mission for water.

A key feature is mandatory registration of houses in the name of the woman or in joint ownership, advancing female asset ownership. Construction is geo-tagged and monitored via the AwaasSoft–AwaasApp MIS, with funds transferred through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). The Union Cabinet approved PMAY-Urban 2.0 in August 2024 to construct one crore additional urban houses with ₹2.30 lakh crore government assistance, and PMAY-G was extended to construct an additional two crore rural houses over 2024–2029, raising the cumulative target. As of 2026 the scheme remains the principal instrument of the government's affordable-housing agenda, intersecting with the New Urban Agenda and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities).

For the UPSC examination, PMAY is tested in GS Paper II (welfare schemes, government policies and interventions for vulnerable sections) and GS Paper III (inclusive growth, infrastructure, and budgetary allocations) in the Mains, and recurs in Prelims through factual questions on launch year, implementing ministries, subsidy slabs, and the IAY-to-PMAY-G transition. In Indian Society, examiners probe its role in women's empowerment through asset ownership, slum rehabilitation, and rural-urban housing deprivation. Candidates should be able to contrast PMAY-U and PMAY-G mechanisms, link SECC 2011 targeting, and critically evaluate implementation gaps — beneficiary exclusion errors, delayed instalments, and the urban land-availability constraint — while citing the convergence model that distinguishes PMAY from its predecessor IAY.