The government has approved revised income criteria for defining beneficiaries under its existing housing schemes for Economically Weaker Sections and Lower Income Groups. This was announced by the Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Ajay Maken while inaugurating HUDCO Pavilion at India International Trade Fair-2012 in New Delhi. Under the new criteria, now urban poor having an annual household income of up to 1 lakh rupees will be classified as Economically Weaker Sections and those falling between 1 lakh and 2 lakhs would be categorized as Low Income Group.

Mr. Maken said that the previous income criteria for selection of beneficiaries under various schemes were fixed during 2010 at a monthly household income of up to 5000 rupees for Economically Weaker Sections while it stood at more than 5,000 to 10,000 rupees for Low Income Group segments.