Scheme named after former PM Indira Gandhi to be closed

One of the last schemes named after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is set to be finally shut down, in government files, in her 100th birth anniversary year. The Centre has written to all states asking for latest housing figures for the “closure” of Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), a rural housing scheme started four decades ago by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the name of his mother and former PM.

Lakhs of houses were built under the IAY scheme since 1985 before the Narendra Modi government decided to “restructure” it as the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) from April 1, 2016. However, the IAY was not closed in government files then as there were more than 30 lakh pending houses left to be constructed under that scheme and the Modi government decided to complete these houses with an option to use funds allotted to the PMAY-G scheme.

In a letter to all states on June 15, the Centre asked states to specify whether all IAY houses were completed by March 31, 2018, as it had directed in January. “It is important that IAY accounts are settled and it is brought to a closure. A meeting is scheduled to discuss and decide about the settlement of IAY accounts and closure of the scheme,” the Centre said.


It also sought to know the number of houses “that can never be completed” under the IAY due to reasons such as the death or permanent migration of beneficiaries.

The IAY is being closed in government files before the government aims to complete the PMAY-G scheme, which envisages building of one crore rural houses, by December this year. This will be three months ahead of the March 2019 deadline fixed by the PM.

A retired bureaucrat, who was involved in IAY in UPA-II government, told ET on condition of anonymity that the IAY had led to construction of almost 55 lakh rural houses in four years from 2012 to 2016 before PMAY-G was launched. The Modi government, however, cited a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report in 2014 to point to gaps in the IAY scheme including non-assessment of housing, lack of transparency in selection of beneficiaries, low quality of houses and weak monitoring mechanism, and said that the PMAY-G would address these gaps.

Separately, in 2015, the Modi government dropped the names of former PMs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi from the annual awards given by the home ministry on Hindi Diwas for progressive use of Hindi in government.