Modi government to rename new-look Indira Awaas Yojana to Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana

The Modi government is renaming yet another welfare programme to remove its association with the Gandhi family. This time it's the Indira Awaas Yojana, which aims to build homes for the rural poor. It's to be renamed the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana. Cornerstone of the government's housing-for-all initiative, this is meant to mark the start of an overhaul.

"The name is being changed and many upgrades being made to the scheme," a senior official said.

"We are still discussing the inclusion of the word 'Grameen' in the name of the scheme," the official said. A Cabinet note amending the scheme has already been floated by the rural development ministry. This proposes that the homes get bigger and costlier. The unit cost of each house will nearly double to Rs 1.25 lakh from the current allocation of Rs 75,000 per household.

In the new design, the kitchen will be bigger, increasing the overall area to 25 square metres from 22 sq m. The government is also proposing to converge this with other rural development schemes. The Modi government has already renamed at least two programmes that bore Rajiv Gandhi's name — one after Sardar Patel and the other after BJP icon Deendayal Upadhyaya. The programme will continue to have linkages with the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to ensure toilets in each house.

Construction has been made an eligible item of work under MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) programme and therefore 90-95 mandays of unskilled manual wages can also be availed of by housing scheme beneficiaries.

The states have also been asked to make sure that benefits of the Unnat Chulha Abhiyan (more efficient, less polluting cooking fuel) along with the Jan Dhan Yojana (financial inclusion) and the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (electrification) are made available to beneficiaries.