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CHAPTER 5

COMMUNITY HOUSING SCHEMES AND PEOPLE’S

PLAN IN IN KERALA

5.1 People’s Plan in Kerala

Planning is a process in public governance that analyses

situation, identify the needs, sets the priorities, allocates the resources

and fixes the targets for achieving the pre-determined objectives. A

plan must be a realistic account of the expectations.

Decentralized planning is an integral part of national planning.

It refers to the plan of the local governments at the sub-state level at

the district or below. It is nothing but participating process plan

formulation by the local governments as a part of national and state

planning. The concept of philosophy of decentralized planning

received renewed attention in India with 73rd and 74th Constitutional

Amendment Acts of 1992. In response to this national initiative, the

United Democratic Front Government under the stewardship of

A.KAntony introduced the Kerala State Panchayat Raj Bill in the

state legislature and the new act confirmed to the mandatory

Provisions of the constitution (Prakash, 2004).The Kerala Panchayat

Raj Act 1994 envisaged a three– tier system with the gram Panchayat

at the grass-roots level, the block Panchayat at the intermediate level

and the district Panchayat at the district level. The official

inauguration of decentralized planning or people’s planning in Kerala

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was done by E.K Nayanar on 17th August 1996 at

Thiruvananthapuram.

In Kerala, many of the development works under Ninth five

year plan are being carried out through a unique planning exercise,

Peoples Planning Campaign (PPC), in which the planning process

originates at the grassroots levels of the society. Down to earth and

the most needed projects are discussed at the level of the Gram

Panchayat. In addition to planning, execution of certain projects is

done by beneficiaries themselves through committees’. Hence,

though it is named peoples planning, in the real sense, It is not the

planning but implementation as well. E.M Sreedharan, who was a

member of Planning Board described People’s planning as the

concretization of the Gram Swaraj (Thomas and Richard, 2002).The

two most important hall mark of PPC are “power to masses” and

“transparency”. Power to masses to enable them to plan and execute

projects they require most and transparency’ to wipe out corruption

and nepotism.

5.1.1 Salient Features of the Decentralized Planning

The salient features of the decentralized planning framework

that has evolved since mid-1996 in the state are:

1. The Left Democratic Front Government which came to

power in May 1996, took the momentous decision to devolve 35-40

percent of the State Plan funds to the local bodies as against 2.35

percent during the Eighth Plan (Oommen, 2004) This massive fiscal

decentralization is characterized as a ‘big bang’ approach. Each local

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body was required to prepare a comprehensive area plan before it

could lay claim to this plan fund. The underlying objective of the

people’s plan initiative was to rally behind the local governments, the

bureaucracy, the technocracy and the people.

2. The decision to devolve a big plan share of plan funds to

LSGs was followed up by a series of legislative amendments to the

Kerala Panchayat Act, 1994 and Kerala Municipal Act 1994 and

institutional reforms (most of them recommended by the Committee

on Decentralization of Powers, popularly called Sen Committee) that

virtually sought to provide functions, finance and functionaries, along

with autonomy and powers to the local government.

In the words of the Sen Committee:“Local self-government is

essentially the empowerment of the people by giving them not only

the voice, but the power of choice as well, in order to shape the

development they feel is appropriate to their situation. It implies

maximum decentralization of powers to the elected bodies to function

as autonomous units with adequate power, authority and resources to

discharge the basic responsibility of bringing about ‘economic

development and social justice”.

Based on the principle of subsidiary, Kerala has divided the

functions of the various tiers of the rural and urban local governments

into activities and sub activities. Compared to other states this is an

important milestone in the progress of decentralization process in the

country in ensuring role clarity and functional autonomy.

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3. All the expenditure responsibilities dealing with poverty

alleviation and all state-sponsored and centrally sponsored schemes

for poverty alleviation are transferred to the newly created three-

tiered Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs), notably to the village

Panchayat. The state government’s role is now limited to monitoring

and capacity-building. This is not the case in the other states in India.

4. Planning was used as an “instrument of social mobilization”

during the People’s Plan Campaign. This is very much in the public

action tradition of Kerala.

5. The plan entitlement of each local government is decided

according to a formula with sixty percentage weightage on

population, and a one third weightage to backwardness, to bring in an

equalization element besides some incentive for tax efforts. All grants

are provided in a separate document called Appendix IV of the State

Budget passed by the State Assembly. Theoretically, the

departmental heads have very little power.

6. A detailed methodology of decentralized planning, from

needs identification by the Gram Sabha to final approval by the

District Planning Committee needed for administrative sanction in

implementing projects, had been drawn up by the State Planning

Board. Local planning in Kerala involves a multi-stage process that

has broadened the avenues of people’s participation.

The size of the plan depends on the local resources which the

local body can raise (own source revenue, beneficiary contribution,

voluntary contribution etc) and the plan grants from the state and the

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Centre (by way of Centrally Sponsored Schemes). The plans thus

formulated are consolidated with the higher-level plans (block and

district level) during which all projects are vetted for technical and

financial viability.

Besides strengthening the traditional audit system through

Local Fund Audit Department, a special concurrent audit system

called Performance Audit system has been instituted to serve as a

mid-course corrective and guiding mechanism to put the fledging

systems of local governments in proper place. As part of PPC,

considerable attention was given to what has come to be called social

audit. Basically, social audit as it came to be experimented in Kerala

refers to the evaluation of the quality, fund utilization, punctuality in

observing time schedule and general performance of the project

works of local governments through beneficiary committees and

further by the Gram Sabha.Criteria-based selection of beneficiaries is

another significant feature of Kerala’s decentralization.This is

ensured through clear enunciation of eligibility and prioritization

criteria, application in writing, awarding of marks to each criterion,

reading out of marks in Gram Sabha/Ward Sabha meetings and so on.

7. The devolution of over one-third of state plan funds to local

governments as untied grant gives them considerable autonomy. But

it is subject to the condition that 40 percent of the plan allocation is

spent on productive sectors, 10 percent for women-related projects

called Women Component Plan (WCP) and that not more than 30

percent is to be spent on infrastructure. The emphasis on building the

production base especially of the agricultural sector is particularly

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important, given the longstanding stagnation of the agricultural sector

of Kerala. The plan allocation specially earmarked for scheduled

castes and tribes [called Special Component Plan (SCP) and Tribal

Sub Plan (TSP)] administered by bureaucracy are now passed on to

the local self-governments and involve SC/ST representatives.

8.The village Panchayats, which interact with the Gram Sabha

(GS) and which alone have revenue-raising powers among the rural

local bodies are given more functions and resources (70%of rural

share of plan as against 15% each to the block and district

Panchayats).The gram sabha is strengthened and empowered legally.

It is mandated that the GS meets at least four times a year. Every

ward has a gram sabha whose functions range from expressing the

local needs and fixing plan priorities to supervising projects. For the

first time in India, the Gram Panchayats have started to make their

own plans and that too with considerable involvement of the people.

9. A massive capacity-building exercise in a cascading fashion

(involving 600 Key Resources Persons (KRPs) at the state level,

10,000 District Resource Persons (DRPs) at the district/block level

and 100,000 resources persons at the local level (LRPs)) has been

launched under the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA).

With the abolition of the campaign process, this corps also

disappeared.

10. Availability of internal resources is one of the basic

conditions for successful decentralized governance and autonomy.

Relatively speaking, Kerala has a strong own resource base. Kerala

Panchayats on an average raise a per capita own revenue (taxes and

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non-tax revenue) of Rs57 (1998-99) compared to less than one rupee

in Uttar Pradesh (1997-98) and Rs16 (2000-01) in Karnataka where

decentralization ostensibly made headway. This shows that Kerala

has considerable local choice. Given the fact that only 40 percent of

the tax potential of Kerala is tapped, there is immense scope for local

choice in Kerala and expanding the plan size.

11. The active association of local governments with

Kudumbasree, the State Poverty Eradication Mission,which is a poor

women-oriented self-help group initiative against poverty has taken

the antipoverty efforts from a project approach to a holistic process

approach.Apart from the women-oriented Community Based

Organizations (CBOs) associated with the Kudumbashree, as part of

the People’s Plan initiative, CBOs Including all households (poor as

well as non-poor) have been started in some Gram Panchayats (GPs)

as part of its social mobilization and social auditing effort. They were

formed in order to get involved in the selection of beneficiaries,

cultural activities, projects like education, health, drinking water and

promotion of village level unity and so on.

5.1.2 Objective of Peoples Planning Campaign (PPC)

Its aim was to achieve a sustainable model of development;

local empowerment and environmental protection through people’s

participation in the planning and implementation process, based on

the belief that the people know best what is good for

them.Strengthening of local government, solving the developmental

crisis and initiate a new development culture are the important

objectives of PPC (Joy and Ekbal –PPC).

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5.1.3 Programme design

The Kerala State Planning Board (KSPB) played a pivotal role

in helping local governments to formulate the plan with people’s

participation. In order to educate and build the capacity of people’s

representatives, officials, voluntary activists and experts for the same,

the KSPB organized several training programmes that included

nearly 50,000 participants (Foundation India, 2011).

The six stages of the people’s plan comprised of gram sabha

meetings, development seminars, task forces, plan document, block

and district Panchayat plans and District Planning Committees as

depicted in the figure 5.1.

Stage One: Gram Sabha Meetings

The first stage was to hold local assemblies in each of Kerala’s

erstwhile 14149 village wards and urban neighbourhoods. In these

assemblies, people’s representatives and voluntary activists were

provided training in organizing gram sabhas and ward sabhas (in

municipalities) to discuss developmental issues by forming different

sectoral groups. Practical and contextualized solutions often emerged

out of these meetings.

Stage Two: Development Seminars

Once community members discussed their development related

problems and solutions for them, the local self government prepared

detailed development reports that analyzed local development issues

and resources available. Development seminars were held at the

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Panchayat/municipality level to discuss the report and the suggestions

of the gram sabhas. Local level plans and project ideas were

formulated in these seminars.

Stage Three: Task Forces

In this stage, task forces were created that consisted of experts

selected at the development seminars.The task forces were

responsible for preparation of detailed project proposals for the

annual plan.

Stage Four: Plan Document

The local self government institutions held their council

meetings in which annual plan document for the local bodies were

finalized by prioritizing the projects based on the funds devolved

from the state government and locally available resources.

Stage Five: Block and District Panchayat plans

The block and district Panchayat samitis finalized the annual

plans by integrating and supplementing the project proposals from the

grass roots.

Stage six: District Planning Committees (DPC)

District Planning Committees are statutory bodies formed

under the constitution. These are responsible for examining the plan

proposals of each local body in the district, duly recommended by the

technical expert groups in various sectors and gave approval to the

plans that fulfilled the guidelines. Funds for the development of the

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projects were made available only after approval by the DPCs.The

implementation of the plan projects was also organized in different

stages similar to the stages involved in the process of project

planning.These included selection of beneficiaries in the gram sabha

meetings, formation of local beneficiary committees for

implementation and monitoring committees for supervision of the

project.All of these processes were aimed at ensuring people’s

participation and transparency in the development process.

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Figure 5.1

Six Stages of Planning under People’s Planning Campaign

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5.1.4 Three Tier Panchayat System

In the first year of Ninth plan, 40% of the state‘s budget was

allotted to the panchayats. Grama sabha, the bottom most democratic

body, in which all citizens are expected to participate, is a platform

for people to express opinions, and to share information on the

development needs of a locality. Transparent selection of

beneficiaries for schemes benefiting individuals is one of the

important activities that take place in the gram sabha. In the

decentralized governance, there are three levels of panchayats

(commonly refers to as the three –tier system) at the district,the

block, and the gram panchayat (village).Block panchayats are the hub

of the activities in PPC, as there exists an experienced administrative

set up catering to a cluster of panchayat under it. Block development

officer (BDO) function as the block panchayat secretary. He is in

charge of matters connected with a central assistance and its

utilization in the capacity of BDO.A co-coordinator is appointed on

deputation to function at the block level.

Initially only projects using plan funds of state were taken for

PPC.Now the development works under centrally sponsored schemes

also come under PPC.The projects planned by common people are

prioritized and consolidated in the plan Documents of the

panchayats.There is no financial limit fixed for the panchayat body to

accord administration sanction. For according technical sanction to

projects, committees consisting of working and retrieved officials are

constituted at block and district level. These are referred to as Block

Level Expert committee (BLEC) and District Level Expert committee

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respectively. Technical sanction is accorded subject to delegated

powers. All the projects submitted by grama panchayats in standard

format and in local language after screening by BLEC are submitted

to district planning committee (DPC) for approval. After this,

technical sanction to projects is accorded based on detailed estimates

and according to standard procedures.

5.2 Housing Sector and People’s Planning Campaign

The People’s planning Campaign has created a conducive

environment in pushing housing of the poor in to the main agenda of

the development strategy of the local governments.It also recognized

that shelter and development are mutually supportive. It encouraged

three Panchayat samithi’s to formulate enabling policies for

facilitating the poor and the weaker sections to have a livable,

lovable and affordable shelter (Chandradutt, 2000).Now the

panchayat Raj Institution has started functioning full steam,

implementation of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA)

schemes is widely decentralized. In the case of housing, the role of

DRDA is being marginalized, the block development office is turned

in to the block panchayat body, comprising elected people’s

representatives at the block panchayat level that finally decides the

beneficiaries. Housing schemes, which used to be executed earlier

directly by DRDA, are now transferred to grama panchayats.

Towards the end of the second quarter of 1999-2000, DRDA

has come under the district panchayat. Gramsabha select beneficiaries

according to a standard pattern, based on standard selection norms.

The lists from gram sabhas are prioritized at the grampanchayat level.

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The selected list of beneficiaries is sent to the block panchayat.The

list submitted by the grama panchayat is automatically approved. The

selected lists are consolidated at the block level (Meenakshy and

Ajithkumar,2000).Thus the selection has become transparent and

popular. The following schematic diagram (5.2) depicts the

beneficiaries selection process under people’s planning.

Fig 5.2 (Schematic Diagram)

Beneficiary Selection Process under People’s Planning.

BP - Block Panchayat, GP- Gram Panchayat,

GS- Gram sabha,

NGH- Neighborhood Group

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5.2.1 Different Steps in the Beneficiary Selection

The following steps are involved in the process:

Step 1: Block panchayat informs gram panchayat the scheme and the

expected number of beneficiaries under each section such as

SCs/STs, others and widows.

Step 2: Gram panchayats give wide publicity regarding the scheme

through exhibits and announcement. In the gramsabhas, the number

and type of beneficiaries to be selected under each section are

exhibited in transparent manner.

Step 3: Neighburhood groups (NHGs) identify the beneficiaries and

present them in gram sabhas.

Step 4: Gram sabhas enlist beneficiaries and submit lists to the

grampanchayat.

Step 5: List from gramsabhas consolidated at the gram panchayat

level.

Step 6: Prioritization of beneficiaries from all the gramsabhas by

vetting score sheets.

Step 7: Gram panchayat submits the selected list of beneficiaries

approved bythe panchayat body to block panchayat.

Step 8: Block informs the panchayats of the selected list, which is

given wide publicity by the gram panchayat.

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It should be taken as a positive aspect as the process is

transparent and any misdeed can be found out immediately. Since the

selection process is completed at the gram panchayat level itself, the

block panchayat does not have much decision making to perform on

the list submitted by the grama panchayat.

5.3 Community Housing Schemes in Kerala

Homeless or poor housing conditions often reflect the

amplitude of poverty. In today’s market based society, needs are

fulfilled based on the financial ability of the individual rather than its

importance. As a result, the poor have to be satisfied with the lowest

quality of housing and living environment provided by the

commercial market. They cannot afford to pay the economic rent for

housing accommodation of even the minimum standards. The poor

also have less accessibility to loans from banks since they have no

security to mortgage. So their dreams of houses can be realized only

through community housing schemes.

At present, major state government aided housing schemes for

economically weaker sections are the EMS Total Housing

scheme,Tribal Housing Scheme, New Suraksha Housing Scheme,

Schemes of SC and ST departments, Fishermen Housing Scheme,

Bhavanasree, Asraya and M.N Laksham veedu Punar Nirmana

Padhathi. Centrally sponsored housing Schemes such as Indira Awas

Yojana, Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) Integrated

Housing and Slum Development Project (IHSDP), Basic Srvices to

Urban Poor (BSUP), National Fishermen Welfare Fund (NFWF),

Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing and Urban Poor (ISHUP) and

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Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) are also aimed at providing

financial assistance for constructing houses for the pooreconomically

weaker sections in the state. Jawaharla Nehru National Urban

Renewal Mission (JNNURAM) targets acceleration of supply of land,

shelter and infrastructure with special emphasis to provision of basic

service to urban poor and upgradation of slums. The newly

introduced scheme of Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) also focuses on

resolving the emerging needs of poor people in slums due to

urbanization (Government of Kerala, 2011).

Three important community housing schemes in Kerala which

comes under our perview are Indira Awas Yojana, EMS Housing

Scheme and M.N Laksham Veedu Reconstruction project. All these

are being implemented in Thrissur District also.

5.3.1 Indira Awas yojana (IAY)

This scheme was launched during 1985-86 as a sub-scheme of

Rural Landless Employment Guarantee programme (RLEGP) and

continued as a sub-scheme of JawaharRozgar Yojana (JRY)since its

launching from 1989. It has been delinked from the JRY and has been

made an independent scheme with effect from January 1, 1996.

The objective of IAY is primarily to provide grants for

construction of houses to members of scheduled castes/scheduled

tribes, freed bonded labourers and also to non SC/ST rural poor

below the poverty line. This is a centrally sponsored scheme funded

on cost sharing basis between the Government of India and the state

governments in the ratio of 75:25. In the case of North-Eastern states

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and Sikkim, funding will be shared between the Government of India

and these states in the ratio of 90:10 respectively. In the case of

Union Territories, the entire fund is provided by the Government of

India.

The available resources under the scheme in a district are

earmarked for various categories as under: (a) At least 60% of the

total IAY funds and physical targets should be utilized for

construction/up gradation of dwelling units for SC/ST BPL

households

(b) maximum of 40% for non SC/ST rural households

(c) IAY funds and physical targets will be earmarked for BPL

minorities in each state as indicated by the Ministry

(d) 3% of the funds are for physically and mentally challenged

persons. If any particular category is not available in a district,

allocation can be utilized for other categories as per priorities given in

the guidelines after it has been certified to this effect by the zilla

parishad /District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) concerned.

5.3.1.1 Identification of Beneficiaries:

The District Panchayat/Zilla Panchayat /DRDA on the basis of

allocations made and targets fixed shall decide the number of houses

to be constructed/upgraded panchayat wise under IAY during a

particular financial year. The same shall be intimated to the Gram

Panchayat concerned. Thereafter, the beneficiaries, restricting to this

number will be selected from the permanent IAY wait list prepared

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on the basis of BPL list in order of seniority in the list. The Gram

Panchayat may draw out the shelterless family from the BPL list

strictly in the order of ranking in the list. Separate list of SC/ST

families in the order of their ranks may be derived from the larger

IAY list so that the process of allotment of 60% of houses under the

scheme is facilitated. Thus at any given time, there would be two

IAY wait list for reference, one for SC/ST families and the other for

non SC/ST families. Once the lists are prepared, they need to be

approved by the Gram sabha to be attended by a government servant

who would be a nominee of the collector.

The selection by the Gram sabha is final. No approval by a

higher authority is required. Zilla parishad /DRDAs and Block

Development Offices should however be sent a list of selected

beneficiaries for their information. The permanent IAY waitlists so

prepared will be displaced at a prominent place either in the Gram

Panchayat office or any other suitable place in the village. The list

will also be put on the web site by the concerned DRDAs.

5.3.1.2 Priority in the Selection of Beneficiaries

Prioritization of beneficiaries will be as follow:

I. Freed bond labourers

II. SC/ST households :

SC/ST households who are victims of atrocity

SC/ST households headed by widows and unmarried women

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SC/ST households affected by flood, natural calamities like

earthquake, cyclone and manmade calamities like riot.

Other SC/ST households;

III. Families/widows of personnel from defence Services/

paramilitary forces killed in action.

IV. Non-SC/ST BPL households

V. Physically and mentally challenged persons.

VI. Ex-service men and retired members of the paramilitary forces

VII.Displaced persons on account of development projects,

nomadic/semi nomadic and de-notified tribal, families with

physically /mentally challenged members.

The selection of the beneficiaries will be subject to the

condition that the households of all the above categories except III

are below poverty line.

The upper limit of construction assistance under IAY during

1985 was Rs 6000 in ordinary (plain) areas. The extra amount for

hilly terrain was 30% of the total subsidy. It has risen to Rs12700 in

ordinary areas and Rs 14500 in hilly areas during 1993-94 and

revised to Rs20000 and Rs 22000 during 1996-97 (Government of

India, Indira Awwas Yojana) The assistance has risen from Rs35000

for general category family, Rs50000 for SC and Rs75000 for ST

below poverty line in the year 2000 to Rs 50000, Rs75000 and Rs

100000 for general category, SC and ST respectively in 2008.Now it

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is Rs 75000, Rs 100000 and Rs 125000 for general category, SC and

ST respectively.The entire amount should not be paid to the

beneficiary in lump-sum. It is made in instalments in cheque and is

linked to the progress of work.

5.3.1.3 Conditions Involved in the Construction

The following conditions are to be fulfilled in the construction

of houses:

1. Involvement of Beneficiaries-The beneficiaries should be

involved in the construction of the house. To this end, the

beneficiaries may make their own arrangement for procurement of

construction material, engage skilled workmen and also contribute

family labour. The beneficiaries will have complete freedom as to the

manner of construction of the house which is their own. This will

result in economy in cost, ensure quality of construction, lead to

satisfaction on the part of beneficiaries and acceptance of the house.

The responsibility for the proper construction of the house will thus

be on the beneficiaries themselves. Zilla parishads/DRDAs can help

the beneficiaries in acquiring raw material on control rates, if they so

desire or request the Zilla parishads /DRDAs in this regard.

2. Ban on Contractors or Departmental Construction- No

contractor or government department is allowed in the construction of

IAY houses. If any case of construction through contractors comes to

notice, Government of India will have a right to recover the

allocation made to the state for those IAY houses. Government

departments or organizations can give technical assistance or arrange

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for coordinated supply of raw materials such as cement, steel or

bricks if the beneficiaries so desire. The spirit of the IAY is that the

house is not to be constructed and delivered by any agency; on the

other hand, the house is to be constructed by the ultimate occupier of

the house.

3. Appropriate construction Technology and local materials.

While fixing technical specifications, efforts should be made to

utilize the maximum possible extent, local materials and cost

effective technologies developed by various institutions. Technology

using bricks, cement and steel on large scale should be substituted by

lime and lime surkhi manufactured locally. Bricks manufactured by

beneficiaries themselves may also be undertaken for reduction of cost

and better wage employment.

4. Type design- The lay out, size and type design of IAY houses

should depend on the local conditions. No type design should be

prescribed for IAY house except that the plinth area of houses should

be around 20 m2.The houses should be designed in accordance with

the desire of the beneficiaries keeping in view the climate conditions

and the need to provide proper space, kitchen, ventilation, sanitary

facilities, smokeless chullah and the community perceptions,

preferences and cultural attitude.

5. Drinking water supply- The availability of drinking water should

be ensured by the agencies responsible for the implementation of the

IAY. Where necessary, a hand-pump should be installed on the site

before the work is started, from the funds available under Rural

Water Supply or other similar programmes.

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6. Sanitation and Sanitary latrines- Sanitation and Sanitary latrines

forms an integral part of IAY houses. The Government of India

attaches considerable importance to the construction of sanitary

latrines as a sanitary measure and therefore, sanitary latrines should

invariably be taken up as a part of the IAY houses. A system of

drainage from the houses should also be provided to avoid overflow

from the kitchen and bathroom.

7. Environmental Improvement and Social Forestry.

Plantation of trees in the entire habitat or around the individual

house should be taken up simultaneously. Trees may be planted near

the housing clusters so that in due course, enough trees are available

nearby to enable the beneficiaries to get fuel/ fodder/small timber.

Such plantations can be taken up under the social forestry

programme.

8. Involvement of voluntary organizations- Suitable local

voluntary agencies should be associated with the construction of IAY

houses. In particular the voluntary agencies should be made use of to

popularize the use of sanitary latrine and also in the construction of

smokeless chullahs.

9. Inventory of Houses- The implementing agencies should have a

complete inventory of houses constructed under IAY, giving details

of the date of start of construction and the date of completion of

houses, cost involved, number of houses allotted, name of the village

and Block in which the houses are located, name, address, occupation

and category of beneficiaries and other relevant particulars.

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10. Display of IAY Board and Logo-

On completion of an IAY house, the DRDA concerned should ensure

that for each house so constructed, A board is set up displaying

clearly the house built under IAY and should indicate the IAY Logo,

name of beneficiary and the year of construction.

5.3.2 EMS Housing Scheme

The EMS Housing Scheme envisaged with the objective that

there should be no homeless family in the state. It was estimated that

there are 2 lakhs landless families and a total of 5 lakh houseless

families in Kerala as on June 2008 (Government of Kerala emshouse,

2011). EMS Scheme launched by the Government of Kerala aims at

providing house sites to all landless families and house to all

houseless families coming under the BPL category. The scheme will

be implemented by the local bodies with the support of government.

At the tenth death anniversary of EMS Namboodiripad (first chief

minister of Kerala) V.S.Achuthanandan performed the state level

inauguration of the scheme at Kodakkara,Thrissur. The Minister for

Local Self Government, Paloli Mohammedkutty presided over the

function. The scheme named after the first chief minister of Kerala,

E.M.S Namboodiripad was started in 2009. This is purely a state

funded scheme. The fund required is to be raised from the plan fund;

by the way of raising loans from Banks especially Co-operative

Banks by Urban Local Bodies (ULB) and other sources like

contribution from NRI’s Government servants, and NGOs etc. It is a

total subsidized scheme to the beneficiaries.

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5.3.2.1 Objectives

The objectives of E.M.S Housing Schemes are the following :

1. Provision of house to all houseless below poverty line.

2. Provision of land and house to all landless, houseless people below

poverty line.

3. Reconstruction of the dilapidated houses which are constructed

under One Lakh Housing scheme.

5.3.2.2 Identification of Beneficiaries

In the Gram Panchayat, services of village extension officer,

overseer, Lady Village extension officer, and other officers under the

control of Gram Panchayat, and in the municipal corporation, the

services of agricultural field officers and other officers of the

corporation are used to identify the beneficiaries. Two such members

form a group and will have equal responsibility in the identification

of the beneficiaries. Group will visit the places and evaluate the

situation for preparing the report on prescribed format.

While identifying the beneficiaries, they should follow some

criteria:-

a) The beneficiaries must be from the B.P.L. list (not only SC,ST but

other categories also).

b) They should not have their own house or huts or those having

dilapidated house.

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c) They should have ration cards

d) If any one of the family members have a house, they are not

eligible for financial help.

e) Deserving families having no land or landless houseless families,

without ration cards will be given financial help on the basis of

examination of District Collector

Families from B.P.L.list are excluded from financial help if :

(i) any one of the family members are employed in the government,

private, quasi government, aided or co-operative institutions (class I

to class IV employees)) and pensioners in such institutions.

(ii) they are permanent employees of the government or private

institutions (except employees of traditional industries, plantation

workers)

(iii) they own concrete houses with plinth area of 10000square feet

(iv) they have four wheelers for their own use or more than one,

three wheelers or four wheelers even as taxi

(v) any one of the family members is employed in foreign countries

(vi) they own more than one acre agricultural land (exception for ST

5.3.2.3 Eligibility Test

1. Selection of beneficiaries from BPL list is on the basis of risk

factors (risk factors are shown in the table 5.1)

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2. Eligibility of the selected beneficiaries is tested by a team of two

officials and their report is discussed and it is sanctioned in the gram

sabha.

3. If any case of ineligible beneficiaries comes to notice, witnessing

officials are liable to refund the principal amount with interest.

Secretary of gram Panchayat/corporation should ensure that

beneficiary families are included in the list only after examination.

Digital photo of the family of the eligible beneficiary standing in

front of their existing house is to be taken by the examining officials

Table 5.1

Risk factors

SL.No Risk factors Marks

1 Women headed family (below 65years) 5

2 Unmarried mother/divorced women/divorced member in the family

5

3 Family members having serious diseases 5

4 No family members permanently employed in Govt, semi -Govt and private organizations

5

5 School drop-outs below 20 years 5

6 Family member with more than 65 years 5

7 Physically, mentally challenged member 10

8 a.SC/ST family/

b.Members engaged in traditional occupation

10

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SL.No Risk factors Marks

9 Ashraya yojana family 5

10 Landless family 10

11 Family residing in Puramboke 20

12 a. Family with no house,b. hut,c. houses thatched with grass and leaf, d. Partially completed houses/poor house.

10,7,5,3 respectively

13 Families without sanitary latrines 5

14 Families with no access to drinking water facility within 500 meter (100meter in hill areas)

5

15 Family without the facility of electricity. 5

Total marks (family which obtain 18 or above will be considered as BPL )

Source: Local self Government Department. Application form.EMS Housing Scheme

Government of Kerala

5.3.2.4 Nature of Assistance for Purchasing Land and

Construction of House

If the beneficiaries themselves purchase land for construction

of house, SC, ST, Asraya yojana families, people living by the side of

railway track, road,and puramboke are eligible for Rs 75000 in gram

Panchayat,Rs90000in municipality and Rs100000 in municipal

corporations. Others in the general category are eligible for Rs 37500

in gram Panchayat, Rs 45000 in municipality and 50,000 in

municipal corporations. This amount can be used to purchase 2 to 4

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cents of land in rural areas and 1½ to 4 cents in municipal areas

(Local Self Government Department, Eleventh Plan)

The aid for each general category of the BPL family was

Rs 50000 for SC and mentally and physically challenged persons

belonging to general category was Rs 75000 and for ST and Ashraya

yojana families Rs100000. Now the rates are revised for different

categories. The aid for each general category of BPL family will be

Rs 75000, for SC and physically and mentally challenged persons

Rs100000 and for ST and Ashraya yojana families Rs125000 as

shown in the table 5.2.

The new rates will be applicable for renovation of M.N

Laksham veedu houses, I.A.Y.and all other housing schemes being

implemented by Local Self Government Institutions.Financial aid is

not given in lump sum. It is given in four instalments after getting the

stage certificate from the concerned village extension officer.

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Table.5.2

Financial Help for House Construction under E.M.S Housing

Scheme (in Rs) In

stal

men

t

Com

plet

ion

of

activ

ities

gene

ral

SC/p

hysi

cally

ch

alle

nged

ST/A

shra

ya

yoja

na fa

mily

Subs

idy

(per

cent

age)

1 Preparation

of land for

foundation

22500 30000 37500 30

2 Completion

of

foundation

30000 40000 50000 40

3 Completion

of roof

15000 20000 25000 20

4 Fixation of

windows

and doors

7500 10000 12500 10

Total subsidy 75000 100000 125000 100

Source : Eleventh plan Janakiyasuthranam. Thozhilum veedum. janakiya

campaign.E.M.S housing scheme.

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5.3.2.5 Conditions for the Construction of Houses under E.M.S

Housing Scheme

Houses constructed under E.M.S Housing scheme must satisfy

certain conditions. They are as follows:-

1. The basement area of house should be between 20 and 40 meter

square. Now it is revised and maximum area should be 60 meter

square

2. The roof should be tiled or concrete and should not be made of

asbestos

3. Outside doors should be fixed

4. The house should be electrified out of the financial aid

5. The house should have sanitary latrines and smokeless chulah

6. This house should not be resold for a period of ten years.

The beneficiaries should submit the following documents in the

village office:-

1. Pocession certificate

2. Tax receipt for the year 2009-10

3. Ration card, photocopy of 1stand 4th pages of the ration card and

two passport size photos

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4. Caste certificate from tahsildar for scheduled castes and scheduled

tribe

5. Disability certificate for physically and mentally challenged.

Beneficiaries are eligible for the following concessions:

1. They are exempted from stamp duty and registration fee for the

land allotted to the landless

2. They can employ the workers from ‘Employment Guarantee

Scheme’ for preparing the land for basement, filling the land etc.

They should not pay them wages

3. They are exempted from the payment of permit fees for

construction

4. They should submit only the sketch and not the elaborated plan

for construction.

5.3.2.6 Finance for the Project

The major source of finance is the plan fund of local self

government and loan from the Banks. Local government can take

loans equal to 10 times of 15% of the plan fund. Voluntary

contributions from individual organizations, N.R.I can also be used

for E.M.S housing fund. Minister for Panchayat and Social Welfare

M.K Muneer said in the assembly that the government proposed to

continue the EMS Housing scheme. Replying to the debate on the

demands for grants for panchayats, social security and welfare, the

Minister said that implementation of the scheme was not very

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effective. Only 10000 of the one lakh applicants without land could

be provided with houses (The Hindu, Oct.21,2011). Money was also

misused for constructing second storeys to buildings. However, the

scheme would be continued till the extended time limit.

Pointing out that not even 10 houses could be completed under

the scheme in the capital city, (TVM) the Opposition UDF accused

the Corporation of abject failure in implementing the project.

According to them, the assistance provided for constructing houses

was woefully inadequate. Admitting that the poor availability of land

was a major hurdle to the project, the treasury benches called on the

government to refrain from scrapping the project on political

grounds. Mayor K.Chandrika found that more than 6,000

beneficiaries, including 4619 landless families, had been identified

for the EMS scheme in the city and the Corporation, had disbursed

Rs1.3 crore as assistance for construction of houses and purchasing

land (The Hindu,June 26,2011). According to Mr.Padmakumar,

chairman of the standing committee on works the prohibitive price of

land in the city was forcing the Corporation to hunt for property in

suburban areas for mass housing projects. Opposition councilors

continued to taunt the ruling front with allegations of poor

implementation.

According to K.Maheswaran Nair, UDF leader, the poor

performance of the scheme was an affront to the memory of the

former Chief Minister E.M.S Namboodiripad after whom it was

named. He opined that it was better to scrap the scheme that had

fallen far short of the objectives.P.Ashokkumar, BJP leader suggested

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to have additional funds from the government and enhance the outlay

for the project to match the steep land price and soaring cost of

construction.

5.3.3 M.N.Laksham Veedu Reconstruction Project (M.N

Laksham Veedu Punarnirmana Padhathi)

Laksham Veedu Project was started in Kerala in 1972 under

the leadership of M.N.Govindhan Nair, the then minister for Housing.

Under this scheme 57,590 single houses and 16,309 twin houses were

constructed during 1972 to 1976 (Housing Department 2009).Active

participation and financial support from students, voluntary

organizations, government employees, quasi government employees

and private employees made it a unique project. But these houses

became very old and they are to be repaired and renovated.

With this objective, Laksham Veedu Renovation Project was

implemented in the year 2004 and 2172 houses were renovated. This

scheme was renamed M.N.Laksham Veedu Reconstruction Project on

19-09-2008 (M.N.LakshamVeedu Punarnirmana Padhathi). During

the Eleventh plan, it is targeted to reconstruct 60000 houses. A list of

dilapidated houses of Laksham veedu colony is to be prepared

(Economic Review 2010). Project is to be implemented in such

colonies and all deserving families in a colony are to be benefited

from the project at a time.

Financial help of Rs 50000 for the general category, Rs 75000

for SC and families with physically and mentally disabled members

Rs 100000 for ST and Ashraya Yojana is given in the scheme. Now

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the rate is revised as Rs 75000 for general category, Rs 100000 for

SC and family with physically and mentally disabled members and

Rs125000 for ST and Ashraya families.

Table 5.3 Financial Allotment in Instalments

Source: Govt of Kerala.Housing department ‘M.N. Laksham Veedu Reconstruction project

‘Guideline 2009’. KSHB

Kerala State Housing Board will provide 50% of the financial

help as the share of the state government and 50% is to be met by the

local Self government institutions from their plan fund. The Housing

Board will help the beneficiary to prepare suitable housing plan. It

will give technical advice to the beneficiary at different stages of

house construction. Financial help is allotted in four instalments as

shown in the table 5.3.

Out of the total subsidy, 30 percent will be given as the first

instalment, after preparing the land for foundation of the house,

40 % after completion of foundation, 20 % after completion of roof

and the last instalment of 10 % after fixing windows and doors. The

implementing officer of the housing projects of gram Panchayat and

Instalment Subsidy (in percentage) Stage of completion

1 30 Preparing the land for foundation

2 40 completion of foundation

3 20 completion of roof

4 10 Fixation of windows and doors

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municipal corporations will be implementing the MN Lasham veedu

reconstruction project also. Stage certificate is to be given by the

village extension officer or lady village extension officer as directed

by the local self government to the beneficiary. During 2009-10 and

2010-11, up to 30-9-2010, the KSHB has renovated 3286 units and an

amount of Rs 19.44 crores has been spent for the scheme.

People’s plan campaign of Kerala has created a conducive

environment in pushing the Community Housing Schemes in to the

main agenda of development strategy of the local governments. It

recognizes that shelter and development are mutually supportive. So

it encouraged the three tier Panchayat Samithi’s to formulate enabling

policies for facilitating the poor and the weaker sections to have a

comfortable and affordable shelter. The poor people’s need for

shelter can be met through the Community Housing Schemes (CHS)

since their financial capability is weak. The CHS like EMS Housing

scheme, Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) and M.N Laksham veedu

Punarnirmana (MNLP) scheme are being implemented in Thrissur

district with the objective of enabling the houseless BPL families to

construct a new house or reconstruct their dilapidated houses.

References

Chandradut (2000).People’s Alliance for Housing Thrissur District Total Housing Programme http://decwatch.org?files/icdd/042.pdf Foundation India (2011) Participation Planning to Strengthen Decentralisation-GKC http://India governance.gov.in/files/pp-decentralisation pdf. Government of Kerala, Department of Housing, Kerala State Housing Policy.. http://hsg comr.kerala.gov.in.pdf/ final policykshp.pdf

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Government of Kerala (2011) EMS Housing Scheme –Kerala Government Logo.http://lsg.kerala.gov.in/en/emshouse.php. Government of Kerala, Economic Review (2010) Government of Kerala. Housing Department MN. laksham Veedu Reconstruction Project Gudeline 2009 KSHB. Government of Kerala. local self government department. Eleventh plan Janakiyasuthranam Thozilum Veedum Janakiya Compaign EMS Housing Scheme. Government of India (Indira Awas Yojana). meg cnrd.gov.in/ forms/IAY.pdf. Mozilla Firefox. Joy Elamen and B.Ekbal Kerala People’s Plan for Decentralisation. www.pitt.edu/-super/3011-4001/3441.ppt. Meenakshy. C.S,Ajithkumar (2000):Kerala Research Programme on Local Development. Women’s participation in Rural housing scheme.Discussion paper series oct. TVM Oommen. M.A (2004) Deepening decentralized Governance in Rural India; Lessons from the People’s plan initiative of Kerala . Centre for Socio economic Environment studies. working paper 11. Prakash B.A (2004)-Kerala’s Economic Development Performance and problem in the post Liberalisation period.sage publications in India New Delhi The Hindu (2011- news by Roy Mathew) EMS Scheme to be continued till March next year.http://www. the hindu.com/ news/states/kerala/article2555712.ece The Hindu (2011) Housing Scheme : Council Seeks enhanced assistance http://www. the hindu.com/2011/06/25/stories/ 2011062563700300 htm. Thomas Issac T.M and Rlchard w.Franke (2002) Local Democracy and Development. The Kerala People's Campaign for decentralised Planning.http://chss.dev.montclair.edu/anthro/

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