MP housing project aims to empower women

BHOPAL: In Madhya Pradesh, the much-hyped housing programme, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), has been converted into a project for developing housing for women.

The state government took the step in a move to empower women, according to state urban housing and development minister Maya Singh.

Owners of all the houses made under the new scheme will be women which will give them social security, Singh said.

She added that cases where males have sold or mortgaged their homes to raise money for liquor and other vices prompted the move. “The basic objective of giving ownership of the house to women is to empower them. It will boost the confidence of women and also improve their conditions. We feel women are good administrators so the house will be in safer hands,” Singh said. Officials of the MP urban administration and development (UAD) also feel that the move will stop misuse of the scheme. The department has also made Aadhaar card mandatory to receive benefits under the scheme.

The UAD has issued instructions to all municipal bodies notifying them of the scheme.

It has however, also made it clear that if a family doesn’t have a woman, benefits of the housing scheme won’t be denied to them.

“The money for the construction of houses will be given to women but in a special condition, men will get the ownership. If a family has a plot already in the name of a male member of the family and wanted to construct the house under the beneficiary scheme so the money will be allotted jointly to male and one of the female member either mother or wife,” said Amrut Singh, executive director, UAD and in charge of Housing for all Scheme in MP.

Under the PMAY or the housing for all scheme, half a million houses are going to be constructed by December 2018.

Women activists welcomed the move saying it would lead to a change in mindset. “By making a woman an owner of the house will change the mindset of men. Women will also feel independent. Being the owner, women will play an important role in decisions ...It will also save the families from being homeless due to vices of the male members,” said Prathna Mishra, an activist.