Residents of Mohla-Manpur village in Jharkhand's forested interior say their lives have changed fundamentally over the past 12 years, crediting the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and a cluster of Central Government welfare schemes for lifting them out of conditions marked by crumbling mud homes, open defecation, and energy poverty. As the Modi government completes 12 years in office, beneficiaries across this forest-rich district are among those sharing first-hand accounts of what they describe as a profound shift in their daily lives.

From Leaking Roofs to Pucca Homes

For decades, families in Mohla-Manpur endured the annual ordeal of monsoon season inside fragile mud-and-tile huts. Beneficiaries recalled spending entire nights awake as rainwater seeped through deteriorating roofs, with no reliable shelter for children or the elderly. Multiple dispensations came and went, they noted, without delivering durable housing to the village's most vulnerable households.

That changed, residents say, after PMAY allocations began reaching the village. Families who once lived in structurally unsafe homes now occupy pucca — permanent, brick-and-mortar — houses, which they describe as a source of both physical security and restored dignity. According to one beneficiary, 'Previously, we lived in a mud-and-thatch house. We faced immense difficulties during the rainy season, as water would leak into the home. Now, thanks to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, we have received a pucca house, which has brought us significant relief.'

Ujjwala, Swachh Bharat, and the Wider Welfare Net

Housing, while the most visible change, is one strand of a broader welfare delivery that villagers say has reached Mohla-Manpur in recent years. Gas connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana have replaced smoky biomass stoves for many households, reducing indoor air pollution and easing the burden on women who previously spent hours collecting firewood. Toilet construction under the Swachh Bharat Mission has addressed sanitation gaps that once posed serious health risks, particularly for women and girls.

Beneficiaries reported that the convergence of these schemes — housing, clean cooking fuel, and sanitation — has collectively raised their standard of living in ways that individual interventions alone could not have achieved. Notably, residents of forest-edge communities like Mohla-Manpur have historically been among the last to receive government services, making the reported reach of these programmes a point of particular emphasis among locals.

What Residents Are Saying

Villagers expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with several noting that direct benefit transfers and scheme deliveries have, in their experience, bypassed the intermediary leakages that previously diluted government support. They remarked that rural and forest-dwelling regions — long treated as peripheral — are now, in their words, 'illuminated by development.'

One beneficiary cited benefits from Ujjwala Yojana, toilet construction, and PMAY in the same breath, underscoring how the bundling of schemes has compounded the impact on individual households. 'We express our gratitude to the Prime Minister,' the beneficiary said, according to reports.

Context and What Comes Next

PMAY, launched in 2015, set a target of providing housing for all eligible rural and urban beneficiaries, with the rural component — PMAY-Gramin — specifically aimed at households living in kutcha or dilapidated structures. Jharkhand, with its high proportion of tribal and forest-dependent communities, has been a priority state under the scheme. The government has periodically revised beneficiary lists and extended deadlines to improve coverage.

As the 12-year mark prompts a wider stock-taking of welfare delivery, ground-level accounts from villages like Mohla-Manpur will likely feature in the government's outreach. Whether the pace of delivery accelerates — particularly for households still awaiting allotment — remains the key question for communities still on waiting lists.