The government has decided to refer the draft guidelines of its ambitious Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), a scheme to make India slum-free, to an independent panel. The eight-member expert panel, headed by HDFC Bank chairman Deepak Parekh, has been asked to give its recommendations within a month from its first meeting. The draft guidelines have been prepared by the housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry. The panel will make suggestions regarding the strategy, financial pattern and other features of the scheme so as to make a practical and implementable instrument of making India slum-free. The decision was announced by housing minister Kumari Selja today at the ministry