PM Modi to release first instalment of central aid for new rural homes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will, over the next few days, release the first instalment of the central financial assistance and hand over approval letters to the new beneficiaries of rural housing scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Grameen (PMAY-Grameen), who have been identified for the new 20 million houses that the Modi government has promised to build over the next five years.

This would be over and above the almost 26 million houses already built across the country in the last 10 years.

The instalment-release functions, which will culminate on Modi’s birthday on September 17, will start from Jharkhand on September 15, where the PM will distribute approval letters among 20,000 beneficiaries.

“Jharkhand had a target of building 113,000 houses but the state government has managed to build fewer homes,” Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told reporters here today.

He said on September 16, the PM will travel to Gujarat, where he will distribute the first instalment of Rs 93 crore to 31,000 beneficiaries. The PM will also participate in the ‘Griha Pravesh’ of 35,000 completed rural homes in the state.

In the last 10 years, around 650,000 rural houses have been constructed in Gujarat, and in the current year, a target of 54,135 houses has been given to the state.

Finally, on September 17, the PM will travel to Bhubaneshwar in Odisha, where he will distribute approval letters and release the first instalment of Rs 3,180 crore for 1 million new beneficiaries from across the country. Rural houses scheme beneficiaries from poll-bound states won’t be part of this exercise.
 

Mega seeds park to come up in UP soon

Uttar Pradesh will soon set up a mega state-of-the-art seeds park in Lucknow spread over 200 acres. The state is also preparing a plan to give 150 agriculture farms for research on seeds in the PPP mode. Speaking at the 8th annual general meeting (AGM) of the Federation of Seeds Industry of India (FSII), which is the apex body of the Indian seeds industry, UP Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi said that the state government is committed to working towards providing farmers with high-yielding varieties of seeds and is aspiring to reach the productivity of Haryana in wheat. Shahi also supported the New Seeds Act.