Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation

Government of India, New Delhi

Rajiv Awas Yojana

Rajiv Awas Yojana

Slum-free India Mission

Mission Directorate,
Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation
Government of India
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 Address by President of India to
Joint Session of Parliament, 04 June, 20 09

“My Government proposes to introduce a

Rajiv Awas Yojana

Rajiv Awas Yojana for the slum dwellers and

the urban poor on the lines of the Indira
Awas Yojana for the rural poor. The schemes
for affordable housing through partnership
and the scheme for interest subsidy for urban
housing would be dovetailed into the Rajiv
Awas Yojana which would extend support
under JNNURM to States that are willing to
assign property rights to people living in
slum areas. My Government's effort would
be to create a slum free India in five years
through the Rajiv Awas Yojana. “
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 Prime Minister’s Address to the Nation
on 15th August 2009

“We had started the Jawaharlal Nehru

Rajiv Awas Yojana

National Urban Renewal Mission for the

urban areas. We will accelerate this
programme also. Today, lakhs of our citizen
live in slums which lack basic amenities. We
wish to make our country slum free as early as
possible. In the next five years, we will provide
better housing facilities to slum dwellers
through a new scheme, Rajiv Awas Yojana”.

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 Rajiv Awas Yojana

President’s announcement gives us:

Rajiv Awas Yojana

A Bold New Vision:

“A Slum-free India in Five Years Time”

Clear Policy Direction for Inclusion:

“Assign property rights to people living in
slum areas”

The Programme Outline

“Rajiv Awas Yojana for slum dwellers
based on a whole city approach”

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 Slum-free India Mission

The Approach
Rajiv Awas Yojana

• For a Slum-free India, it is not sufficient to

address existing slums

• It is as important to tackle the basic

reasons behind the creation of slums:
– Urban land and housing scarcities that make the
market unaffordable, not only to the BPL
– An unrealistic town planning model that does not
recognise poverty and forces more than a quarter
of urban population into extra-legal vulnerability
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Rajiv Awas Yojana The Approach

• For a Slum-free India, RAY has to gather:

– Multiple Partners
– Institutional Funds
– State Government Commitment
– Close Involvement of Urban Local Body
– Community Participation

and, offer enabling Central Government

Support

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 Aspects Important to Strategy Design

• Size of the Problem

Rajiv Awas Yojana

• Scarcity of Land at Affordable Prices

• Scarcity of Credit to the Poor in the Informal

Sector

• Lack of Private Sector Participation so far

• Technology for Mass Housing Construction

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 Aspects Important….Size

The Size of the Problem

Rajiv Awas Yojana

• Slum Population
Estimated 62 million in 2001, not counting those in non-
notified, non-recognised clusters with less than 60 household

• Urban Poor Population

An estimated 81 million in 2004-05 – NSSO 61st Round

• Housing Shortage
24.7 Million in 2007, 99% of it estimated for the poor

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Rajiv Awas Yojana Aspects Important….. Land

Land Availability can be enhanced by

• In situ slum upgradation: PPP, Slum-dwellers Cooperative, Beneficiary-

driven, Government-driven
• Creation of virtual land – Use of FSI/TDR/Incentive zoning as resource
• Encouraging affordable housing by PPP on private holdings subject to
incentives by Government
• Reservations of land/housing for EWS/LIG housing in all new developments

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 Aspects Important….Credit

Credit does not flow for housing the poor

Rajiv Awas Yojana

• Banks look for credit history and don’t give loans to slum
dwellers – even priority sector lending does not reach them
• There are no housing microfinance institutions

• The institutional framework for social housing has become

dysfunctional

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 The Proposed Strategy Design

• State-led Action and State-led Pace

Rajiv Awas Yojana

• States to Prepare their Plans of action for slum free

status – Slum-free State Plan to be based on Slum-free
City Plans
• Centre to appraise and clear
• Central releases to follow enactment of legislation
assigning right to a dwelling space – to all slum dwellers
• Capacity building support by Centre.

• Centre to create enabling environment and a menu of financial

support for states to choose from.

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 Rajiv Awas Yojana… Directions

(i). Upgradation of Slums as well as Measures to prevent

Rajiv Awas Yojana

New Slums – ‘Whole City’ Approach

(ii) Legislative Framework for Property Rights to Slum-

Dwellers

(iii) Easing Credit Availability for the Urban Poor for Housing,
including Interest/Capital Subsidy - Enable Demand-
driven Housing

(iv) Public-Private Partnerships for Affordable Housing

(v) New Paradigm of Inclusive Planning - Reservation of

Land for Housing the Poor in City Master Plans and
Security of Land Tenure to Slum-Dwellers.
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 State Plans of Action for Slum-free Cities

• The State POA in two parts –

Rajiv Awas Yojana

Part I
• Enacting Legislation for Property Rights and Plan for
Upgrading all Existing Slums, notified or not, in a Whole
City Approach

Part II
• Creation of conditions to deter new slum formations by
tackling: the Price–distorting land and housing shortages;
the Exclusionary town planning norms; Planning for
earmarking of space for slum dwellers/urban poor

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 Preparatory Tasks

• Slum Survey, Slum MIS, GIS Mapping, GIS-enabled

Slum Information System – Support to States
Rajiv Awas Yojana

• Slum-free City and Slum-free State Cells with Experts

• Model Legislation on Property Rights to Slum
Dwellers and Legal Framework for Slum-free Cities
• Choice of Slum Redevelopment/Rehabilitation Model –
Focus on PPP where feasible; Involve NGOs/CBOs
• Preparation of Slum-free City Plan based on Slum
Redevelopment / Rehabilitation & Prevention Plans
• Developing an Inclusive Urban Planning Paradigm -
Amending Town Planning, Urban Development,
Muniicpla, Revenue & Other Laws
• Easing Flow of Credit to the Urban Poor - Design of
Housing Mortgage Guarantee Fund.

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 Addressing Risks
Credit may still not flow to the EWS-
Banks are fearful of loan waivers, difficulties in foreclosing mortgages of
Rajiv Awas Yojana

the poor, high costs of collection

Private sector participation may not materialise-

Developers will return to HIG as soon as the market upswing starts

States may have difficulty assigning land for slums

Many slums are reservations, untenable locations, on private land and on
central lands; many states have adopted auctioning of lands as a policy

Lack of an institutional framework for social housing may

delay execution
State Housing Boards mostly dysfunctional

Resistance from Slumlords/slum-dwellers

There are huge vested interests in slums

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 Rajiv Awas Yojana

Thank You

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