The change in PPF Rule
According to this recent change, a PPF subscriber shall be allowed premature closure of her account or account of a minor of whom she is the guardian on grounds that the amount is required for treatment of serious ailments or life-threatening diseases of the account holder, spouse or dependent children on production of supporting documents from competent medical authority. Similarly, you will be able to prematurely close your PPF account for higher education needs only if you produce documents and fee bills showing confirmation of admission in a recognised institution in India or abroad. The premature withdrawal, however, comes with a penalty-you will get 1% less interest as applicable from time to time.

Earlier you were not allowed to prematurely close your PPF account. You had to complete 15 years to close it. So, even if you left the account inactive, you could only get the money after 15 years. Earlier you could only do partial withdrawal from the seventh financial year onwards. For partial withdrawals, earlier the rule was capped at 50% of the total balance at the end of the fourth year, counting back from the year of withdrawal or 50% of the total balance at the end of the year before the year of withdrawal, whichever is lower. Withdrawals could be made only once in a financial year.