Question : EXPERT COMMITTEE ON RAY

(a) whether the Government has constituted an expert committee on Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY);

(b) if so, the details thereof alongwith the composition and terms of reference of the said committee;

(c) whether the said committee has submitted its report to the Government;

(d) if so, the details of findings and recommendations of the said committee alongwith the action taken by the Government thereon; and

(e) the funds sanctioned and released for construction of houses under RAY alongwith the present status thereof?

THE MINISTER OF HOUSING & URBAN POVERTY ALLEVIATION (KUMARI SELJA)

(a): The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation had constituted an expert Committee under the Chairpersonship of Sh. Deepak Parekh on Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY).

(b): The composition of the Committee is:

1. Sh. Deepak Parekh, Chairman, Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd.

2. Sh. Naseer Munjee, Non - executive part-time Chairman, Development Credit Bank.

3. Sh. S Sridhar, Chairman, National Housing Bank & Central Bank of India.

4. Professor O.P. Mathur, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.

5. Smt. Renana Jhabawala, Self Employed Women’s Association, Ahmedabad.

6. Smt. Sheela Patel, Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centre, Mumbai.

7 Sh. Rohtas Goyal, National Real Estate Development Corporation.

8. Sh. Kumar Gera, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India.

The Terms of Reference of the Committee are to critically examine the draft Rajiv Awas Yojana scheme prepared by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation in order to make suggestions regarding the strategy, financial pattern and other features of RAY so as to make a practical and implementable instrument of making India Slum-free.

(c) & (d): The Committee submitted its report on 26th April, 2010. The salient features of the Committee report include the : endorsement of the ‘Whole City & Whole Slum’ approach proposed under RAY, emphasis on community participation, focus on rental housing including transit housing, credit enablement for the urban poor, professionalism in project appraisal process & need for review of urban land policies etc. The recommendations of the report have been suitably incorporated into the Rajiv Awas Yojana scheme guidelines.

(e): Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) has been launched on 02.06.2011. The Phase-I of Rajiv Awas Yojana is for a period of two years from the date of approval of the scheme with a budget of Rs. 5,000 crores. The Scheme is expected to cover about 250 cities, across the entire country by the end of 12th Plan (2017). As the scheme has recently been approved no funds have been sanctioned yet for construction of houses. However, funds for preparatory activities to RAY have had been sanctioned under the Slum-free city planning scheme.