Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana/ Godh Bharai

Why is in news? PM Modi lauds new initiative of celebrating Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana as a ‘Godh Bharai' ceremony in Dausa, Rajasthan

• Prime Minister has lauded the new initiative of celebrating Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana as a ‘Godh Bharai' ceremony in Dausa, Rajasthan.
• In India, every third woman is undernourished and every second woman is anaemic. An undernourished mother almost inevitably gives birth to a low birth weight baby.
• Owing to economic and social distress many women continue to work to earn a living for their family right up to the last days of their pregnancy.
• Furthermore, they resume working soon after childbirth, even though their bodies might not permit it, thus preventing their bodies from fully recovering on one hand, and also impeding their ability to exclusively breastfeed their young infant in the first six months.
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana(PMMVY) is a Maternity Benefit Programme that is implemented in all the districts of the country in accordance with the provision of the National Food Security Act, 2013.
• It is a centrally sponsored scheme being executed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• The cash benefits are provided to pregnant women in their bank account directly to meet enhanced nutritional needs and partially compensate for wage loss.

Objectives:

• Providing partial compensation for the wage loss in terms of cash incentives so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first living child.
• The cash incentive provided would lead to improved health seeking behaviour amongst the Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW& LM).

Target Beneficiaries:

• All Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW&LM), excluding those who are in regular employment with the Central Government or the State Governments or PSUs or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force.
• All eligible Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers who have their pregnancy on or after 1st January 2017 for the first child in the family.
• The Centre is extend the benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) — currently applicable to eligible pregnant women and lactating mothers for the first child in the family to the second one — only if the child born is a girl.

Benefits:

• Beneficiaries receive a cash benefit of Rs. 5,000 in three installments on fulfilling the following conditions:
• Early registration of pregnancy

Ante-natal check-up

• Registration of the birth of the child Completion of the first cycle of vaccination for the first living child of the family.
• The eligible beneficiaries also receive cash incentive under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY). Thus, on an average, a woman gets Rs. 6,000.

Some of the other schemes related to Women:

• Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojna (IGMSY).
• Kudumbashree in Kerala.
• Poshan Abhiyaan.
• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme.