Introduction
The highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental right of every person. However, Gender-based discrimination, undercuts this right. It can render women more susceptible to sickness and less likely to obtain care, for reasons ranging from affordability to social conventions keeping them at home.
Thus the new SDG has adopted the goal of reducing the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births and to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes by 2030.
Government of India has launched the Maternity Benefit Program as part of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to improve maternal and neonatal health by promotion of institutional deliveries (childbirth in hospitals).
Recently Union cabinet has approved pan-India implementation of Maternity Benefit Program.
About the Maternity Benefit Program
a)Target Group: All eligible Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW&LM), excluding those who are in regular employment with the Central/state Government or Public Sector Undertakings or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being.
b)Objective of the scheme: The cash incentives provided would lead to improved health seeking behaviour amongst the Pregnant Women and Lactating Mother (PW&LM) to reduce the effects of under-nutrition namely stunting, wasting and other related problems.
c)Provisions: Partial compensation for the wage loss will be provided in terms of cash incentives so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first living child.
d)Why the government has launched this scheme? Normally, the first pregnancy of a woman exposes her to new kinds of challenges and stress. Thus the scheme provides support to the mother for safe delivery and immunization of her first living child. The improved health care seeking behaviour of the PW&LM would lead to better health status for the mother and the child.
e)Amount of cash incentive: Rs.5000/- will be given to PW&LM in three installment for the birth of the first live child by Ministry of women and child development and the remaining cash incentive after institutional delivery so that on an average, a woman will get Rs. 6000/-.
f)Mode of cash transfer to the Beneficiaries: The conditional cash transfer scheme would be in DBT mode.
g)The Scheme will be implemented using the platform of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) under Women & Child Development/Social Welfare Department of the respective State/UT. However, it will be implemented by respective Health Department in Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
h)Maternity Benefit Programme would be a Centrally Sponsored Scheme under which the grant-in-aid would be released to States/UTs in cost sharing ratio between the Centre and the States & UTs with Legislature 60:40, for North-Eastern States & Himalayan States it will be 90:10 and 100% for Union Territories without Legislature.