New Delhi, Dec 17 : As many as 2.68 crore houses have been completed under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G) as of 13th December this year out of which 72.66 lakh are solely in the name of women and 1.22 crore jointly in the name of wife and husband.

This takes the total number of houses owned by women to 1.95 crore or 73 per cent of all the completed houses under PMAY-G, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

The PMAY-G guidelines provide sanctioning of the house in the names of women, or jointly with their husbands, Minister of State for Rural Development Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani said in a written reply in the Lower House.

In order to ensure the empowerment of women, an advisory has been issued stating that all the houses under PMAY-G should include names of women members of the household in sanction ownership details (either solely or in joint ownership) and that the female member(s) may be added as secondary owner in the sanction letters where the initial sanction has already been given in the name of the male member, the minister explained.

In order to achieve the target of 'Housing for All' in rural areas, the Ministry of Rural Development is implementing Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G) with effect from 1st April 2016 to provide assistance to eligible rural households with the cumulative target to construct 4.95 crore pucca houses with basic amenities by March 2029, the minister said.

A total target of 3.33 crore houses has been allotted to the States and UTs, out of which 3.22 crore houses have been sanctioned and more than 2.68 crore houses have been completed, the minister said.

Further, women beneficiaries of PMAY-G are associated with Self Help Groups (SHG) for livelihood and employment opportunities.

The minister further said that the DAY-NRLM scheme assists Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in obtaining loans from Banks. Members of these SHGs utilise such loans for a variety of purposes, including the promotion of their businesses.

Since the inception of this Mission, a total of 9.74 lakh crore in bank loans has been disbursed to women-led SHGs.

Further, the DAY-NRLM has mobilised 10.05 crore rural households into 90.87 lakh SHGs in the country.

/IANS