Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh Thursday commended the Narendra Modi government for its implementation of a component of the Centre's rural housing scheme.

"The beneficiaries of Indira Awaas Yojana can avail Rs 20,000 loan for construction of their houses at differential rate of four per cent interest. Only about 44,000 such beneficiaries across the country availed this benefit last year. Over 33,000 of them were from Gujarat," Ramesh told reporters, acknowledging the Modi government's initiative.

In fact, nearly 78 per cent beneficiaries of the scheme, according to statistics with the ministry, came from Gujarat. None of the states ruled by the Congress figure among the top three performers.

Gujarat was followed by Tamil Nadu, where about 2,700 poor availed cheap loans to build houses, and Jharkhand, where 2,200 people availed it. "Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are the two states where IAY beneficiaries are availed cheap bank loan facility," Ramesh said.

In this fiscal too, Gujarat leads implementation of this IAY component  of the 30,849 people who have availed it across India, 24,852 are from Gujarat. Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh  both ruled by the BJP  rounded up the top three performers list, though by a huge margin.

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