Under PM JANMAN, first house constructed in ‘record time’

The first house under the government’s flagship scheme PM JANMAN launched by PM Modi on 15th November 2023 on Janjatiya Gaurav Divas was constructed in a “record” period of one month, a senior government officer said.

The first house under the government’s flagship scheme PM JANMAN launched by PM Modi on 15th November 2023 on Janjatiya Gaurav Divas was constructed in a “record” period of one month, a senior government officer said. The house has been constructed in Shivpuri village of Madhya Pradesh and given to Bhagchand Adivasi from the Sahariya tribe , according to the additional secretary of Tribal Affairs Naval Jit Kapoor.

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According to the ministry, 4.9 lakh houses are to be constructed for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) under the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM JANMAN). The first instalment of ₹50,000 was disbursed by the Prime Minister through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) on January 15, followed by subsequent instalments of ₹75,000 each on January 22 and January 26. Each household is allocated ₹2.39 lakhs under this scheme, specifically earmarked for PVTGs. The amount is higher than the ₹1.2 lakh allocated to a house in the plains and ₹1.30 lakh, in hills, under the PM Awas Yojana (PMAY). The ₹2.39 lakh includes ₹12,500 for toilet construction and ₹27,000 designated as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) wages for a period of 90 days.

“Women are very happy and are now motivating each other to register for Aadhaar cards and caste certificates so that they can avail benefits under JANMAN as well. It has become a healthy competition among the villagers to see whose house will be completed first,” said Kapoor. “PM JANMAN is going strong and we hope to complete all sanctioned houses for PVTGs in MP within 4-5 months.”

PM JANMAN has an outlay of ₹24,000 crores spread over three years. It consists of eleven interventions spread across nine ministries and covers 18 states and one UT. Bihar has not submitted its data because it was preoccupied with the caste census while Manipur has been unable to submit the data due to the tensions in the state.

Kapoor said projects worth ₹7,000 crores have already been sanctioned since the start of the project.

Professor and retired IAS officer AB Ota said the monitoring system in the JANMAN scheme is strong since it’s monitored at the PMO’s level and all nine ministries involved. “The culture of tribal communities is priceless, only infrastructural interventions are not enough and must be accompanied by protection of their culture and behavioural intervention.”