Owning a house has always been a problem for the lower income families. This is because of the ever escalating prices of flats or apartments which does not fit in the pockets of low income group people. This in turn causes building up of slums for their dwelling in the form of affordable housing.
The government has announced a plan to ensure that India is made a slum free country by the year 2020 by providing affordable housing for low income families. This would be made possible by imposing a cess of 0.5% on all central taxes. It would in turn act like a shelter fund for its slum free approach. This plan is specially made for the slum dwellors in India and is undertaken by the government of India and various other NGOs. The government plans to build six storey buildings on an area of five acres land with 600 square feet flats. Thus flats would be available for families with comparatively low income at a low cost. Each person will be given a flat suiting his budget and family size.
After the constant efforts carried out by the central as well as the state government it is assumed that there is a shortage of about 25 million houses which in turns affects around 67 million households. Most of the people fall in to the low income group. In West Bengal, a number of joint sector firms are formed who provide low budget housing for the lower income group people. One such initiative carried out by the government is the Indira Was Yojna (IAY) which has a target of 2.40 lakh houses to be built. This Yojna will also make sure that it gives equal proper rights to the slum dwellers. The Panchayat and Rural Development of Assam also work together with the central government to encourage the efforts of the Indira Awas Yojna. The Delhi Government is building low cost houses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Thus all these Yojna's would work together for the development and a bright future of the nation.
