The union housing and urban affairs ministry initiated several schemes in 2018 and plans to sanction construction of one crore houses before 2020 under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (urban), a move aimed at ensuring 'housing for all by 2022'.

The ministry is mandated to implement a number of flagship programmes - Swachh Bharat Mission, PMAY (U), Smart City Mission, National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) among others.

A ministry official said that since April 2018, 1,612 cities have been declared as open defecation free (ODF) taking the total number to 4124 across the country under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).

The official said that construction of almost 62 lakh individual household toilets and 5 lakh community and public toilet seats is already over or nearing completion.

CNBC-TV18 caught up with experts to see what these numbers mean, where are these homes being constructed and who are the real beneficiaries of this housing for all push?