Since India gained independence in 1947, housing has been recognized as a fundamental need for improving the quality of life in rural and urban areas. The government has implemented numerous housing programs over the decades, particularly focusing on rural development and addressing the problem of inadequate and unaffordable housing for low-income families. These programs have evolved to meet changing socio-economic needs and to align with broader development goals, such as poverty alleviation, women empowerment, and social equity. In the initial decades after independence, the focus was on planned urban housing, but rural housing remained largely neglected. The first significant effort towards rural housing came under the Community Development Programme (1952) and the subsequent Five-Year Plans, where the emphasis was on providing shelter for the rural poor as a part of integrated rural development. During this period, housing schemes were primarily state-led initiatives with limited coverage due to financial and administrative constraints. The Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), launched in 1985, marked a major step in rural housing development. It was designed specifically to provide financial assistance to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families for constructing simple, durable houses with basic amenities such as sanitation facilities and drinking water access. Initially, the program targeted marginalized