Rural Housing Schemes- Mapping Segregation

From the desk of Vitasta Raina

Time: Blessed Samhain 2025

Notes from the field.

Introduction: The Tapestry of Rural Housing Schemes

In his book ‘Housing and Social Theory’ (1992), Jim Kemeny argued that ‘housing problems’ that inform housing policies are defined not by housing researchers and subject matter experts, but rather by politicians and prevalent housing markets, and often fall prey to vested interests and hidden agendas. He argued that the notion of home, which is a highly emotive issue, becomes attached to words like ‘public or social’ for housing built for certain social groups, and that this then becomes a dominant discourse for party manifestos by politicians.

In India, ‘housing problems’ in housing research translate to ‘housing shortages’ i.e. the total number of households that do not have adequate shelter as derived from data collated by the Census of India. Since there are no social dimensions attached to this quantitative data, there are several key areas that are never addressed, and in turn, efforts directed towards the delivery of ‘shelter’ separated from its social construct as ‘home’, often turn housing into data objects and a mechanism for governance and social ordering.

In the outskirts of Mumbai Metropolitan Region, where this study was conducted, there are a multitude of central and state rural housing schemes coexisting. While in their delivery mechanism, seed-funding and model house layouts, these scheme are similar, where they diverge in in their beneficiary selection and inclusion/exclusion criteria. While the central scheme -Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G), has shifted its scope from earlier being targeted only for SC/STs to include other economically depressed classes through the Socio-Economic Caste Census-2011 (SECC); state schemes in Maharashtra are targeted towards different social groups. While Ramai Awas Yojana (RAY) is targeted towards dalits and Neo-buddhist communities, Shabari Awas Yojana (SAY) is targeted towards tribal communities. Another state housing scheme: Aadim Jamati Gharkul Yojana (AJGY) is targeted only towards tribals that are classified as PVTGs such as the Katkaris in Maharashtra state. As per news reports (2), in July 2023, the State government approved running of Modi Awas Yojana which is targeted specifically for OBC communities.

One can argue that selective inclusion being implemented in the same geographical terrain under these schemes spatially encode existing social hierarchies and begin to reproduce, rather than reduce social distance. As evidenced by literature on universal housing policies(3), notions of what we consider slogans such as ‘housing for all’, in practice split the population into two separate groups-a poor and benefit receiving minority versus a better off tax-paying majority. This process makes it easier to identity vulnerable groups, which can contribute to their stigmatization.

The Spatial Reproduction: Social Identities and Spatial Clustering

A mapping exercise to determine spatial segregation of communities under different housing schemes was conducted using data from the PMAY portal for the study regions at Chowk village and Hatnoli village. PMAY portal has geotags for houses constructed under rural housing schemes in Chowk Panchayat from 2016 till 2023. There are a total of 184 entries for Chowk panchayat including entries for state schemes namely Shabari Awas Yojana and Aadim Jamati Garkhul Yojana. While for PMAY entries GIS reports are indicated collectively on Bharat Maps, Shabari Awas and Aadim Jamati have listings based on beneficiary registration number. It is notable that geotagging is not completely accurate because for the same house which has 6 different entries as every new installment is independently geotagged, 6 different geotags have been recorded. In some cases geotags were recorded at Lonavala and Khalapur which have been ignored. Final geotag recorded at time of house completion was used in mapping. Further, in the case of PMAY geotags, 8 entries were for Dharni village which does not fall under the purview of Chowk panchayat. For PMAY, entries were between 2016 and 2022. Thus, for the mapping exercise overall 31 entries were recorded. Of these 19 were under PMAY, 11 under Shabari Awas and 1 under Aadim Jamati.

Map depicting Rural Housing Scheme geotags. Sources: Village Boundaries- Maharashtra Remote Sensing Applications Centre; Rural Housing Schemes Geotags- PMAY Portal; Base Map-Google Earth. Map created by Author on AutoCAD

Geotags for rural housing schemes were mapped on to Google Maps. The base map created was superimposed with village boundaries map created by Maharashtra Remote Sensing Applications on AutoCad software. Because of ground surveys conducted, I have been able to determine the accuracy of few houses of the geotags which have been accurately recorded down to house level, and others are accurate to street level. Few houses where the geotags are not accurate, however, overall locational accuracy down to village level has been recorded in these cases. 

Clustering of PMAY Houses at Hatnoli Katkarwadi. Incorrect Geotag for AJGY is seen, as this house is located at Hatnoli Katkarwadi behind main house. Source: Author

Top: Two PMAY houses accurately geotagged at the end of Chowk Navin Vasahat Katkarwadi.

Bottom: Clustering of SAY Houses at Hatnoli Adivasi Pada. These houses are accurately geotagged to street level. Source: Author

The outcome of the mapping exercise was as expected. There is a clear clustering of houses under different schemes in areas dominated by tribals. Out of the 11 SAY homes, 4 are in Hatnoli Adivasi Pada (Katkariwadi), 3 are in Irshalgadwadi (before the disaster occurred), 2 in Nanivali Thakurwadi and 2 in Varosawadi (Katkariwadi). 1 Aadmin Jamati house is in Hatnoli Katkariwadi. I had inquired about the lack of houses under this scheme given the Katkari population in the study area and the panchayat office was very clear that this was because they didn’t possess caste certificates, and in many cases, they were not aware of the scheme as well. For PMAY houses, they are located at Irshalgadwadi, Varosawadi and Namarchiwadi and Hatnoli Katkariwadi. Two new houses are located behind Chowk Navin Vasahat Katkariwadi. There are no houses located within main village areas- Chowk Town, Chowk Navin Vasahat and Hatnoli village.

While, the mapping exercise does not cover the older houses built under IAY, these houses are located primarily in tribal padas and wadis. The mapping exercise reveals clustering of houses in tribal dominated areas, however, if we only look at PMAY geotags we would be unable to ascertain the communities of the beneficiaries. SAY tags reveal areas for specific communities, such as Hatnoli Pada or Irhsalgadwadi where tribals reside. If more beneficiaries had availed Aadim Jamati, we would even be able to determine on the map not only that the area is dominated by tribals, but also the specific tribal community (Katkaris) that reside there. Thus, while communities have benefited from rural housing schemes, the schemes by themselves have not been able to overcome spatial segregation and traditional patterns of segregation have continued to determine the spatial order.

Conclusions: The Trajectory of Growth

The way villages are spatially ordered today — with clusters of beneficiary housing set apart from older, upper-caste settlements — has quietly shaped their growth trajectories. The areas of Chowk Main Town, left untouched by state housing schemes, has begun to urbanize rapidly. There are multi-storey houses, shops and key institutions there, and property values continue to rise. In contrast, the beneficiary clusters have remained frozen in time.

This uneven evolution reveals how welfare-led segregation produces not only social distance but also developmental inertia. Rural housing, in its current form, has not only mirrored pre-existing inequalities but institutionalized them, scripting the future of these places in advance — where some parts of the village grow vertically into towns, and others remain trapped in the horizontality of welfare. A very interesting phenomenon is now going to develop around Hatnoli Adivasi pada, as this hamlet with SAY houses, is getting engulfed by large Real Estate townships of Arihant World Villas and HIranandani Plotted Township. I will cover these topics in a later blog post.

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References:

(1) Housing and Social Theory, Jim Kemeny, 1992: London and New York: Routledge

(2) Outlook Money, 7th January 2023. “Modi Awaas Gharkul Yojana: Housing Aid Scheme Launched For OBC Beneficiaries In Maharashtra“

(3) Bengtsson and Grander. 2023. "Universal and Selective Housing Regimes as Broad and Narrow Policy Fields. A Conceptual Proposal and its Application to Sweden." Journal for housing research Vol 6 Issue 2 90-105.