Barely three weeks are left for what is being described as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's make-or-break Budget. With drought-like situation in nearly half of the country's 676 districts, rural India seems to be the focus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to launch two mega schemes - Rurban Mission and Housing for All -to provide urban amenities in village clusters and housing for all, just before the Budget.

Both the schemes are likely to get significantly enhanced allocations from Jaitley in the Budget.

At the coming four farmer rallies - in Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh - this month, the PM would unveil the schemes. Both schemes, to be launched within weeks of the government patting its back for having revived the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, are aimed at boosting its profile among rural youth.

The Rurban Mission will be launched on February 21. The ministry has identified 300 clusters of 20 villages each across India with population ranging from 25,000 to 50,000. These 'rurban' centres will be developed as economic hubs for skilled rural youth to get jobs near their villages. The government will roll out the plan to improve physical infrastructure like roads, electricity and broadband internet.

The second scheme, as its name suggests, is even more ambitious: 'Housing for All'. In its manifesto for 2014 elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party had promised to achieve the dream of housing for all by 2022, the 75th anniversary of Independence. Housing for all in urban areas, covering almost 2 crore households, has already been launched. But a similar plan for rural areas, covering 2.95 crore households, has been delayed by three months.

Now, Prime Minister has constituted a team of 11 senior ministers to expedite the plan. The group includes Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Rural Development Minister Birender Singh, among others. According to sources, the group of ministers will prepare a report, on the basis of which a proposal will be sent to the Cabinet for approval.

Rural Development Minister Birender Singh told Business Standard: "We expect the (Budget's) stress on the social sector. If you see the trend of the last two budgets, larger allocations have been made for the social sector. Both, the PM and the FM have indicated, in a way, that social sector and agriculture would get priority. They are thinking of 70 per cent of our population."



Rural Development Minister has also proposed that the housing scheme should include those who are not covered by the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC). Towards this, the Centre is planning to set up appellate authority in each district for villagers to appeal. Based on the merit of an application, housing would be provided to rural poor irrespective of whether their details are mentioned in the SECC or not.

For this, the government is likely to significantly increase the budgetary allocation for the scheme in 2016-17, from Rs 14,000 crore last year. Of this, around Rs 10,000 crore was for Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) alone. Modi's 'Housing for All' scheme for rural India would not only subsume IAY, but would also overhaul it by doubling the allocation for construction of houses, expanding the unit size and improving the identification process. The revamped scheme would also hike the per unit construction subsidy.

The fund granted for construction of one housing unit under IAY is Rs 70,000 in plain areas and Rs 75,000 for hilly and difficult areas. This has been found to be grossly inadequate because of increase in construction cost. Officials said per unit allocation might be doubled from the current levels. They said apart from giving subsidy for construction of a dwelling, the dwelling would also be provided cheap power through 'Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana,' a single-point water connection through the 'Swachh Bharat Mission' and facility to avail MGNREGA labour for construction of houses. The Rural Development Ministry has also allowed beneficiaries under IAY to engage MGNREGA job card holders for construction of houses beyond the stipulated 100 days in a year. This would enable speedier completion of houses and also provide extra income to card holders who want more work in times of rural distress.

An increase is expected in the budgetary allocation for the Rurban Mission from Rs 270 crore allocated in 2015-16. "The objective is to create physical infrastructure and connectivity from villages to nearest township. This will help the skilled youth get exposure to opportunities. Economic activity near the villages might also ensure less migration to bigger towns and cities. But for this to become a reality, only infrastructure isn't sufficient. We will need to create economic activity," Birender Singh added.

BUDGET FOR BHARAT

11 top ministers of Modi government to meet on Sunday

Centre plans to expand the scheme to those not identified by Socio-Economic Caste Census

Rs 14,000-crore allocation in 2015-16. Of this, Rs 10,000 crore meant for Indira Awaas Yojana

Budget 2016-17 expected to significantly increase allocation under this scheme