India's Modi banks on $400bn cash splurge to win election

Bimal Thankachan Y Saraswati, Vizag

Balaram Bhallavi and his family might finally get a proper roof over their heads.

For years, a tiled shanty in a sun-drenched village in India's central Madhya Pradesh state has been home to Mr Bhallavi, his wife, and their four school-going children. A strip of a mud-floored foyer packs in a kitchen, a few plastic chairs, two rope beds and fraying clotheslines.

After a three-year wait, the Bhallavi family received 120,000 rupees ($1,445; £1,136) from a programme run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government last year, allowing them to start building a new home.

More than 25 million homes have been built since 2016 under the rural public housing programme, called the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Prime Minister's Housing Scheme). It is one of the more than 300 federal schemes that

 Mr Modi is leaning on to bolster support for his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the general election as he eyes a record-equalling third term in office.

Post a Comment

0 Comments