Budget 2022: Housing To Power, How Modi Government Has Fared On Key Promises
The Modi government had laid out 13 goals for 2022, as India completes 75 years of independence. Here's how those have fared.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government laid out 13 goals for 2022, the year India completes 75 years of independence. Among these were housing, power, tap water connections, and access to toilets for all households. And road connectivity to every corner of India not linked by highways.
Here's how these schemes have fared:
Electricity For Every Village, Home
The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana was launched in 2015, replacing an existing scheme, with the aim to take power to all inhabited unelectrified villages as per Census 2011. In the recent session of parliament, RK Singh, minister for power, said the target was met as of April 28, 2018.
The government launched the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana or Saubhagya scheme in 2017 to electrify all households. By March 2019, all households willing to receive electricity connection were categorised as 'electrified', barring those in remote parts of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and Left-wing extremism-affected areas.
The data on last-mile connectivity remains "on target" but the supply of power remains a challenge due to central government-state politics and the financial health of power distribution companies or discoms, Rohit Pathania, an energy research analyst, who has worked with the Centre for Science and Environment in the past, told BloombergQuint.
The financial health of distribution companies remains a concern, reflected in the technical losses, load-shedding or outages, and reduced ability to buy power when in need, he said.
Deepak Sanan, senior advisor at National Council of Applied Economic Research and Indian Institute of Human Settlements, suggested that the central government should look towards rewarding performance. “Instead of newer transmission lines and electric meters, the government must reward increased electricity offtake.”
Clean Drinking Water
The Jal Jeevan Mission, launched in August 2019, subsuming the National Rural Drinking Water Programme of 2009, aims at Har Ghar Nal Se Jal, or providing a functional household tap connection in every rural home, by 2024.
Pegged at an estimated outlay of Rs 3.6 lakh crore, of which the central share is Rs 2.08 lakh crore, the scheme faces supply problems.
The ground-level supply of water remains a challenge, said Bhabesh Hazarika, an economist at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. Often the tap connections run out of water sources, or the groundwater dries up, and there is no mechanism to recharge the water in these areas, he told BloombergQuint.
The focus should be on the source, on irrigation projects that recharge groundwater, rainwater harvesting and storage of water, he said.
Citing his experience in rural Madhya Pradesh, he said that “connection is given to households but water isn’t provided".
Sanitation
The Swachh Bharat Mission aimed to improve hygiene by curbing open defecation. In October 2019, India declared that all villages are 'Open Defecation Free'. However, access to toilets has not translated into improved sanitation.
Data from the National Family Health Survey of 2019-2021 notes that access to improved sanitation is at 70%.
Sanan, who has also worked with the World Bank on water and sanitation issues, suggests that India needs community response and sewage management.
“The present government has enhanced subsidy and pushed for toilets, but unless communities adopt behavioural changes, toilets won’t be used," he said.
He cited "next-generation problems" pertaining to how sewage is stored or not emptied on time. "There is also the flawed design of tanks. In some parts, waste is directed into dried borewells, directly polluting the ground aquifers (underground layer that collects water).”
Housing For All
The "Housing for all" goal by 2022 is linked to the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana for urban and rural areas.
As of early January, official estimates said the scheme has sanctioned the construction of 114 lakh houses in urban areas, with 53.4 lakh houses delivered so far. The rural counterpart has its sights set on building a target of 2.95 crore houses by 2024.
The implementation and the speed of construction under the current scheme shows greater progress compared to earlier housing schemes, said NR Bhanumurthy, vice-chancellor at the BR Ambedkar School of Economics, based on his research on the PMAY scheme. There is ‘’visible transformation in rural areas in terms of housing’’.
According to urban economist Debarpita Roy, the beneficiary-led construction and affordable housing in partnership components have progressed, with the credit-linked subsidy scheme raising demand among middle-income groups.
There is room for progress in the slum-redevelopment segment, which she called ‘’the pain-point and driving force for housing schemes’’. The complexities associated with capitalising land value and land rights in the country also remains a challenge, she said.
Monetizing the underlying land in slums has not been working. This is where the next level of housing policies should look at.Debarpita Roy, Urban Economist
Highways Across India
The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, first laucnhed in 2000, aims to construct all-weather roads for eligible unconnected habitations.
Roads under the PMGSY are built, upgraded and renewed in three phases over the years. The projects under the first two phases, launched earlier in the last decade, are due for completion by September 2022. The third phase has been extended up to March 2025.
Projects under the Road Connectivity Project of Left Wing Extremism affected Areas or RCPLWEA are expected to be completed by March 2023.
Targets aren’t met and there are cost overruns, Bornali Bhandari, a senior research fellow at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, said citing a Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation review report.
“Road construction has performed relatively well compared to other infrastructure sectors," she said. "The year-end Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India statistics indicate that the pace of construction increased from 12 km per day in 2014-15 to 37 km per day in 2020-21.”
Concerns Over Data Accuracy, Maintenance
Still, there are concerns as in many cases, the data is reported by the implementing authority itself, prompting questions about accuracy.
“The schemes must be evaluated with appropriate methodologies and compared with a cost-benefit approach," Arup Mitra, professor at Institute of Economic Growth, said. "There must be an evaluation in relation to cost, leakages, and how to reconcile with leakages."
Mitra suggests involving the beneficiaries, leaning on public-private partnerships to reduce leakages, and implementing quality control as possible remedies.
Before a scheme is renewed, the "beneficiaries’ willingness to contribute must also be checked", he said.
And developmental schemes could benefit from private sector participation as well. "Why must all programmes be managed under government resources?”
Sanan called for keeping up the quality of existing programmes.
As a country, we chase new infrastructure. It has become about delivering infrastructure, not service. As long as maintenance is starved, schemes will continue to fall into disrepair.Dr Deepak Sanan, Senior Advisor at NCAER and IIHS
(Corrects an earlier version that misstated Arup Mitra's first name)