Housing is the basic necessity for the survival of human beings. With 140 crore people it is extremely difficult for every Indian family to own a house. Skyrocketing house rents in the urban areas and lack of employment opportunities are two major issues at present for the accommodation seekers. If there is adequate income and social infrastructure available in the rural and semi-urban areas there may not be a large scale internal migration.
Those who have built palatial houses on the Government lands are blindly charging exorbitant rents. Most of the Lal Dodra lands are occupied by wealthy sharks. From them the houses owned in these sites are additional income. In the most blatant manner the Sheila Dikshit Government had legalized 1400 colonies in Delhi for the sake of votes. Instead of deleting wealthy people from the occupied lands it had legalized across the board. Forgetting and forgiving are applied at the wrong sites.
Growing population and unattended basic amenities for a very long time have complicated the matter. The housing policies of central and state governments were short-sighted. More importantly the implementation of even that myopic housing vision was dead slow. For the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) the governments built houses were just 250 sq.ft and for Middle Income Group (MIG) it was just 300-325 sq.ft. These are very inadequate spaces for a family of five and more.
Now the affordable housing committee headed by HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh had suggested increasing MIG area to 1200 sq.ft. Naturally there is a variation in the affordability range for people across the country. Those among the Delhi’s poor may feel Rs.10 lakhs is affordable but in Kanpur may not. Any definition of affordable housing should take note of the local circumstances and economic indicators into serious consideration before finalizing any ceiling.
The Deepak Parekh committee urged permitting Housing Finance Institutions (HFIs) to access long-term external commercial borrowing market, considering the HFIs required long-term funding sources to low cost to pass on benefits to the ultimate borrowers.
It also recommended reinstating income tax deduction under section 80 (1) B of the I.T Act which was available in respect of exempting 100% profit from building residential projects for LIG/MIG houses may be restored for two years.
All the proactive measures to provide affordable housing for the urban poor and rural people is expected to raise the GDP by 1 -1.5%. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) promised to make sure housing for all families throughout the world. The Indian government is duty bound to translate this promise into reality. Although this remains as a promise in paper of the Indian government one needs to wait for another 11 years to see house for every Indian family. By 2020 the Ministry of Housing assures to provide house to every family.
The Deepak Parekh Committee recommendations should be implemented in a time bound manner. Even the proposed cess of 0.5% on all the central taxes to improve the housing should be used for the purpose meant. This cess is expected to help the “Shelter Fund” of the central government to achieve housing for all by 2020. The funds are expected to be managed by the National Housing Bank.
In order to plug the loopholes in the dream project of housing for all by 2020, I suggest that a national identity card with all socio-economic and personal details to filter out duplicates. These should be centrally put in a data base for immediate access and investigation. This is a long pending project which can solve most of the socio-economic problems. This card can be used for multi purposes. If possible the biometric indicators can be included. Those who avail falsely the housing facilities meant for the houseless should be penalized. For this an appropriate database is urgently required.
Those who have built palatial houses on the Government lands are blindly charging exorbitant rents. Most of the Lal Dodra lands are occupied by wealthy sharks. From them the houses owned in these sites are additional income. In the most blatant manner the Sheila Dikshit Government had legalized 1400 colonies in Delhi for the sake of votes. Instead of deleting wealthy people from the occupied lands it had legalized across the board. Forgetting and forgiving are applied at the wrong sites.
Growing population and unattended basic amenities for a very long time have complicated the matter. The housing policies of central and state governments were short-sighted. More importantly the implementation of even that myopic housing vision was dead slow. For the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) the governments built houses were just 250 sq.ft and for Middle Income Group (MIG) it was just 300-325 sq.ft. These are very inadequate spaces for a family of five and more.
Now the affordable housing committee headed by HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh had suggested increasing MIG area to 1200 sq.ft. Naturally there is a variation in the affordability range for people across the country. Those among the Delhi’s poor may feel Rs.10 lakhs is affordable but in Kanpur may not. Any definition of affordable housing should take note of the local circumstances and economic indicators into serious consideration before finalizing any ceiling.
The Deepak Parekh committee urged permitting Housing Finance Institutions (HFIs) to access long-term external commercial borrowing market, considering the HFIs required long-term funding sources to low cost to pass on benefits to the ultimate borrowers.
It also recommended reinstating income tax deduction under section 80 (1) B of the I.T Act which was available in respect of exempting 100% profit from building residential projects for LIG/MIG houses may be restored for two years.
All the proactive measures to provide affordable housing for the urban poor and rural people is expected to raise the GDP by 1 -1.5%. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) promised to make sure housing for all families throughout the world. The Indian government is duty bound to translate this promise into reality. Although this remains as a promise in paper of the Indian government one needs to wait for another 11 years to see house for every Indian family. By 2020 the Ministry of Housing assures to provide house to every family.
The Deepak Parekh Committee recommendations should be implemented in a time bound manner. Even the proposed cess of 0.5% on all the central taxes to improve the housing should be used for the purpose meant. This cess is expected to help the “Shelter Fund” of the central government to achieve housing for all by 2020. The funds are expected to be managed by the National Housing Bank.
In order to plug the loopholes in the dream project of housing for all by 2020, I suggest that a national identity card with all socio-economic and personal details to filter out duplicates. These should be centrally put in a data base for immediate access and investigation. This is a long pending project which can solve most of the socio-economic problems. This card can be used for multi purposes. If possible the biometric indicators can be included. Those who avail falsely the housing facilities meant for the houseless should be penalized. For this an appropriate database is urgently required.
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