Housing for the rural poor seems more secure now with the government planning to extend insurance against natural disasters as a part of the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY)welfare scheme.

The rural development ministry's insurance-welfare will cover all new IAY houses, while houses older than 15 years will be aided for repairs. The poposals were discussed by ministry officials at a meeting on 'emerging directions for rural housing under XII plan' on June 30.

“All new houses could be insured through group insurance to cover losses due to natural disasters and other emergencies . Also, IAY houses older than 15 years may b emtitled to assistance for maintenance/upgradation again through credit-cum -ubsidy,” said an official.

Other proposals that could go a long way in insuring proper housing for the rural poor include increasing unit cost to Rs 75,000 from the existing allocation of Rs 45,000.

The ministry is also mulling on enhancing the unit cost incrementally each year to absorb cost escalation.

As far as the unit cost for purchase of homestead plots under IAY is concerned, the ministry wants to increase it from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000.  

With a view to meeting the housing needs of the rural poor, IAY was launched in May 1985 as a sub-scheme of Jawahar Rozgar Yojana. It is being implemented as an independent scheme since January 1, 1996.

It aims at helping rural people below the poverty-line (BPL) belonging to SCs/STs, freed bonded labourers and non-SC/ST categories in construction of dwelling units and upgradation of existing unserviceable kutcha houses by providing assistance in the form of full grant.