New Delhi, June 10 (Mayank Nigam) In the first cabinet meeting a day after swearing in of the ministers, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cleared the proposal to provide assistance for construction of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), one of the running flagship schemes. It has been decided in the Cabinet meeting today to provide assistance to 3 crore additional rural and urban households for the construction of houses, to meet the housing requirements arising out of the increase in the number of eligible families. The central government’s PMAY since 2015-16 has been providing assistance to eligible rural and urban households for construction of houses with basic amenities.
Under PMAY, a total of 4.21 crore houses have been completed for the eligible poor families under the housing schemes in the last 10 years. All the houses constructed under PMAY are provided with the other basic amenities such as toilets and functional tap connection through convergence with other schemes of central government and state governments. Earlier in the day, PM Modi signed the file, first after being sworn as prime minister for the third straight term, authorising release of 17th instalment of PM Kisan Nidhi. This will benefit 9.3 crore farmers and distribute around Rs 20,000 crores. “Ours is a Government fully committed to Kisan Kalyan (farmer welfare). It is therefore fitting that the first file signed on taking charge is related to farmer welfare. We want to keep working even more for the farmers and the agriculture sector in the times to come,” said PM Modi after signing the file.