Aim of Indira Awass Yojana is to provide financial assistance to the rural poor living Below the Poverty Line (BPL) for construction of house.

BPL rural households of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, non-Scheduled Castes & non-Scheduled Tribes, Ex-servicemen of the armed & paramilitary forces killed in action, physically & mentally challenged persons, freed bonded labourers & Minorities are eligible to get assistance under Indira Awass Yojana.

Funding of IAY is shared between the Centre & State Government in the ratio of 75:25 and for North Eastern States this ratio is 90:10. In the case of UTs., entire funds of IAY is provided by the Centre.

The financial assistance provided for new construction in the form of grant is Rs.45,000/- per unit for the plain areas & Rs.48,500/- for the hilly/difficult areas. The assistance for up-gradation of unserviceable kutcha house to pucca/semi pucca house is Rs.15,000/- The assistance for credit-cum-subsidy scheme is Rs.12,500/- per unit. Maximum of 20% of IAY allocation can be utilized for up-gradation or/& credit-cum-subsidy scheme. Further, an IAY beneficiary can avail top up loan upto Rs 20,000/- under the Differential Rate of Interest (DRI Scheme) from any Nationalized Bank at an interest rate of 4% per annum.

Since reduction of shelterlessness is the primary objective, 75% weightage is given to housing shortage and 25% to the poverty ratios prescribed by Planning Commission for State level allocation . For district level allocation, 75% weightage is given again to housing shortage and 25% to SC/ST population of the concerned districts. On the basis of allocations made & targets fixed, District Panchayat/Zilla Panchayat/District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) decides the number of houses to be constructed/upgraded Panchayat-wise under IAY, during a particular financial year.

Selection of beneficiaries is based on the permanent IAY waitlists wherever these have been prepared or from the BPL list 2002 with the poorest being selected on priority.

60% of the benefits of the Scheme are meant for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Besides 3% of the houses are reserved for physically & mentally challenged persons amongst the rural BPL families. Funds are also earmarked for coverage of minorities.

Allotment of dwelling units is done in the name of the female member of the beneficiary household. Alternatively, it is allotted in the name of both husband and wife. Only when there is no female member in the family , the house is allotted in the name of male member.

Engagement of contractors is prohibited and construction of an IAY house is the sole responsibility of the beneficiary.

Under the guidelines, Zilla Parishads /DRDAs are required to disseminate information in respect of environment friendly/innovative/disaster resistant technologies.

Indira Awass Yojana mainly provides for construction of house on 20 sq. meter area. However, there is provision for dovetailing of the scheme with Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyut Yojana (RGGVY) to provide electricity to IAY beneficiaries.

It is required that the beneficiary will take up “Sanitary Latrine and Smokeless Chulla” as part of the house construction.

As part of Indira Awaas Yojana, a scheme to provide homestead sites to the rural BPL households has been launched in August, 2009. Under this scheme a homestead site of 100-250 sq.mt. is provided to those rural BPL households who have neither land nor a housesite. For this purpose, Rs. 10,000/- per beneficiary is provided to the DRDAs which will be shared by the Centre and the States in the ratio of 50:50.

The information may be obtained from Ministry of Rural Development, State Government & DRDAs/Gram Panchayat. Information is also available in the website of Ministry of Rural Development at http://iay.nic.in and http://rural.nic.in.