Pregnant and lactating women to be entitled to an amount of Rs 6,000 for their first child
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a maternity benefit programme for employees in government enterprises and public sector undertakings, under which pregnant and lactating women will be entitled to an amount of Rs 6,000 for their first child.
The benefit will be released in three installments of up to Rs 5,000 by the Women and Child Development Ministry, while the remaining cash incentives will be released as per the norms of existing schemes of the ministry.
The benefits, which will be implemented from January 1, 2017 onward, were initially introduced in 53 districts in India with the worst maternal mortality rates as a pilot project. These include districts in states like Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar, where the MMR count has been the lowest around the country. Some of these districts include Balrampur (UP), Shrawasti (UP), Budaun (UP), Samastipur (Bihar), Karimganj (Assam), Hailakandi (Assam), Chatra (Jharkhand), Dumka (Jharkhand), etc. The Cabinet nod now extends the scheme to all the districts in the country.
A ministry release said that the benefits scheme will "provide compensation for the wage loss" brought about by motherhood, and to prevent under-nutrition.
Pregnant and lactating women will be entitled to Rs 1,000 at the registration of pregnancy, a second installment of Rs 2,000 at if they carry out at least one antenatal check-up after six months of pregnancy, and a third when the birth of the child is registered, and the child has its first cycle of vaccines, including BCG, OPV, DPT and hepatitis-B. The benefits will be released through direct benefit transfer.
The total cost of the benefits scheme for a period of three years till March, 2020 will cost Rs 12,661 crore to the Central and state governments, with the Centre's share being Rs 7,932 crore, said the government.
...& ANALYSIS
- Reducing the scheme to firstborns may deprive many mothers from getting the benefits of the welfare scheme.
- Activists advocate that the government concentrate on good, quality care for every pregnant women who reaches a government health care centre.
- The benefits were initially introduced in 53 districts in India with worst maternal mortality rates as a pilot project.
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