Migrant workers can get cheap rental homes in cities soon ⁠— even companies will be incentivised to build homes near the factories and offices

• The central government is going to convert government-funded homes in different cities into affordable rental housing through public-private partnerships.
• The government will also encourage private industries companies and state governments to develop affordable housing complexes for people working away from their home cities/towns/villages.
• These were announced as part of Indian government’s second tranche of stimulus to revive the Indian economy from the COVID-19 crash.

Indian government will provide affordable rental housing to migrants and urban poor under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while announcing the second tranche of the ₹20 lakh crore stimulus package.

The second tranche was dedicated to migrant labourers, farmers and urban poor who were amongst the worst hit in the coronavirus outbreak in the country.


The central government is going to convert government-funded housing in different cities into affordable rental housing complexes (ARHC) using public-private partnerships. Moreover, the government will incentivise private industries institutions to build homes on private lands.

The details and modalities of how this will work remains to be seen. The Finance Minister also encouraged state government organisations to develop affordable housing complexes.

Apart from this, Sitharaman also announced free food for 8 crore migrant workers in the next two months. All those migrant workers who don’t have any ration card or state PDS card will get 5 kilogram of grains and 1 kilograms of chana for next two months.

See also:
From minimum wages for all to social security for gig workers ⁠— these are the broad outlines of upcoming ‘labour reforms’ in India