EVALUATION OF HOUSING POLICY IN INDIA: A STUDY OF ASHIANA SCHEME IN PANCHKULA DISTRICT, HARYANA

Abstract

Housing is the basic necessity of human beings, which has always been taken care by the centre as well as the state governments. A number of schemes have been launched by Government of India for housing development in India such as Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP), Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) etc. The present study aims at assessing one of the major schemes formulated under IHSDP called Ashiana scheme for BPL category by the Haryana Government in 2010 in the city of Panchkula (Haryana). The objectives of the paper are to examine the nature of public participation in the formulation and implementation of the scheme, to evaluate the parameters of good governance with respect to transparency in the implementation of this scheme, to know about the difficulties faced by the beneficiaries in the procedure of getting flats and to evaluate the extent of citizens’ satisfaction with the amenities provided under the scheme. The article is an empirical study based on both primary and secondary data. For the purpose of collecting the primary data, a structured questionnaire was prepared for citizens using simple random sampling. A sample of 100 beneficiaries was taken to study their perceptions. The results of the study indicate that there is high degree of public participation in the formulation and implementation of scheme, lack of transparent methods in the implementation of scheme, a very negligible number of beneficiaries found difficulty in the procedure of getting flats and the majority of beneficiaries were satisfied with the amenities provided by the society. Therefore, it is suggested that the administration needs to give maximum publicity to such housing schemes as a measure to reduce poverty from the nation and not as a tool to please their political masters, who use such schemes for getting political mileage, using online portals not on papers but in practice, formation of elected executive body of society along with a separate office for redressal of grievances of residents