Cash scheme for pregnant women finds few takers in state

Bhubaneswar: The flagship scheme of the Union government—  to grant cash incentives to the expectant mothers to ensure institutional delivery and timely post natal checkup of the newborns— seems to be floundering in the state due to lack of takers.

Data assessed from the Union Women and Child Development Ministry hinted that while many states have come forward and received the incentives given by the Union government, very few women from the state have enrolled for the scheme.

The Union government under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) aims at providing partial compensation for the wage loss so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first child. Cash incentives are provided to improve overall health of pregnant women and lactating mothers.

According to the ministry statistics, while many states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and other states have seen enrolment of pregnant women in lakhs, Odisha till March 31, 2019 witnessed only seven such enrolments, depriving all the eligible women from the central cash incentives meant for them. Since the starting of the scheme till March this year, in Odisha the total incentives that women received stood at Rs 23,000 in total while in many other states total incentives have crossed more than crores.

Under the scheme, the Centre allocates Rs 1,000 for early registration of pregnancy, Rs 2,000 for at least one antenatal check and another Rs 2,000 when the child birth is registered and child is given first cycle of mandated vaccination.

All pregnant women who have registered their pregnancy for the first child in family on or after 01.01.2017 are eligible for getting benefit under the programme. The funds to the beneficiaries under PMMVY are transferred directly to their Bank/Post Office account in Direct Benefit Transfer Mode.

The maternity benefit is available to a woman for the first living child of family subject to fulfillment of conditionality. All pregnant women and lactating mothers in regular employment with Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being, are excluded. Many in Odisha are enrolled for other state specific schemes of cash incentives like ‘Mamata’ meant for them.

Inflexibility in the rollout of the scheme in the state, no interest incurred on the payments received on PMMVY assistance, lack of aid for subsequent child and other issues are believed to have halted its penetration and acceptance in the state besides some of the issues raised on the scheme by the state government which remained unresolved.

PMMVY BENEFICIARIES IN INDIA

Manish Kumar