LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath govt on Thursday gave a decisive push to the Centre’s ambitious PM Awas Yojana – Rural by doubling the scheme’s budget, a move that could potentially bolster the BJP’s rural foothold ahead of the high-stakes 2027 UP Assembly elections.
The state govt earmarked Rs 4,882 crore for the scheme in 2025-26 fiscal. This was just double of Rs 2,441 crore allocated in 2024-25.
Executed by the state rural development department, the scheme aims to construct over 30 lakh houses for the poor in the upcoming fiscal. Since its launch in 2016, the scheme has facilitated the construction of around 36 lakh houses for the rural poor in UP. Nationally, the Centre plans to assist in building 4.95 crore rural houses with basic amenities by March 2029.
As of Feb 2025, a cumulative target of 3.79 crore houses has been allotted to states and UTs, of which 3.34 crore houses have been sanctioned, and 2.69 crore houses have been completed, according to Union Rural Ministry data.
The scheme – with the objective of providing housing for all – is also supported by Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) for which the state govt has allocated Rs 1,200 crore in the state budget. This is more than the last fiscal when the state govt allocated a budget of Rs 1,140 crore for the scheme.
The state govt has also boosted the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) by allocating Rs 5,372 crore, aimed at generating 34 crore person-days of employment in 2025-26.
The rural road connectivity too got a boost with an allocation of Rs 1,088 crore for maintenance of the village roads. In the last fiscal an allocation of Rs 3,668 was made for the scheme.
In a bid to foster skill development amongst rural youth, the state government made a budgetary allocation of Rs 427 crores under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Scheme.
