Indira Awaas Yojana, which used to be a component of Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, became an independent scheme from 1997-98 onwards. Its objective is construction of free houses to members of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, freed bonded labourers in rural areas and also to non SC/ST Rural poor people living below the poverty line. Beneficiaries are selected from the Below-the-Poverty-Line (BPL) list approved by the Grama Sabha. At least 60% of the total lAY allocation during a financial year should be utilized for construction/upgradation of dwelling units for SC/ST BPL households. A maximum 40% of allocation is for non-SC/ST BPL rural households. 3% of the above categories should be allocated for physically and mentally challenged persons. Government of India has also asked the States to earmark 15% of the beneficiaries from amongst the minorities. New houses as well as upgradation of kutcha houses are being taken up under the scheme. It is funded by the Centre and the State in the ratio of 75:25.
2.1.1 New houses
From 01.04.2005 onwards, the unit cost of a new house has been fixed at Rs. 25,000 for ordinary soil and Rs.27,500 for difficult soil. Based on the budget announcement of the Union Finance Minister in February, 2008, this amount is likely to be increased by Rs.10, 000/- and the unit cost raised to Rs.35, 000/- for ordinary soil and Rs.37, 500/- for difficult soil. Moreover, the State Government provides an additional amount for RCC roofing cost in addition to its matching share. With effect from 2006-07, the above RCC roofing cost has been raised from Rs.9, 000 to Rs.12, 000 per house. The minimum plinth area of a house should be 20 square metres. All new houses are provided with the toilets and smokeless chulhas. Beneficiaries undertake the construction with locally available materials employing low cost technologies. As the cost of construction of new houses has increased substantially, it has been decided to raise the RCC roofing cost from the existing Rs.12, 000 to Rs.20, 000 per house. This along with the increase in unit cost as announced by the Central Government will raise the total cost of an IAY house from existing Rs.37,000 and Rs.39,500 to Rs.55,000 and Rs.58,500 for ordinary soil and difficult soil respectively. A further subsidy of Rs.1,200 out of Total Sanitation Funds is dovetailed to enable each beneficiary construct a toilet in the IAY house.