Indira Awas Yojana and Housing Adequacy: An Evaluation using Propensity Score Matching

Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) was a public housing assistance program of the Government of India
with its primary purpose being the provision of housing to the homeless rural poor households. The
efficacy of this program has not been rigorously evaluated in the literature and thus this paper is an
attempt in that direction. This paper, by using IHDS-II, a nationally representative sample from
India, and relying on the quasi-experimental technique of Propensity Score Matching, concludes
that the IAY has been moderately successful in meeting its goals in term of housing characteristics
such as pucca house, pit toilet, smokeless chulha, hand pump water; but, it fails to reach its stated
goals in terms of external housing adequacy such as the presence of excrement/human waste and
stagnant water in the vicinity of house and the access to village health facility and electrification.