The National Food Security Act (NFSA)
- The National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013 delivered maternity benefits of ₹6,000 per child to every pregnant woman in the unorganized sector.
- Inflation adjusted today’s value of this amount is not less than ₹12,000, whereas, even the lower statutory amount was not disbursed.
Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana
- The central government claims to provide maternity benefits under the PMMVY, but the scheme has major flaws.
- This is meant for one child per family (recently extended to granting a second child if it is a girl).
- Benefit is being reduced to ₹5,000 in utter violation of the NFSA.
- Severely underfunded, spending on PMMVY in 2023-24 came down to ₹870 crore, which is literally one third of PMMVY’s expenditure five years ago.
- Shrinking Coverage, only 9% of pregnant women benefitted, at least in part, in 2023-24.
Lack of Clarity and Barrier of Information Technology
- Ministry of Women and Child Development has not provided even basic figures on PMMVY implementation.
- Right to Information Act‘s provisions call for transparency, but information access has remained below par.
- Disbursement has been further stalled prompted through glitches in Aadhaar based payments, whereas 2023 24 further complicated things through software overhauls.
Successful Models: Tamil Nadu and Odisha
- Maternity benefits schemes that concentrate on pregnant women have remained a successful program in Tamil Nadu and Odisha
- Odisha: offers ₹10,000 per child (doubled just ahead of elections).
- Tamil Nadu: offers ₹18,000 per child; an increase to ₹24,000 has been proposed.
- Higher Coverage
- Odisha (2021-22): 64% of births covered.
- Tamil Nadu (2023-24): Coverage: 84%.
- PMMVY (2023-24): less than 10% nationwide.
Two Sets of Rules for Maternity Benefits
- Women in the formal sector get 26 weeks of paid maternity leave—far above the 14 week norm of the WHO.
- In the unorganized sector, bargaining women are inhibited by bureaucratic parameters to get a mere ₹5,000.
Reform Road to Go Ahead
- The PMMVY has failed—all due to lack of funding, mismanagement, and in violation of the spirit of NFSA.
- Terracotta Recommendations
- Implement restoration of universal maternity entitlements according to the NFSA.
- Raise benefits to a minimum of 12,000 rupees, indexed to inflation.
- Improve transparency and simplify disbursement.
- Get to know Odisha and Tamil Nadu to adaptively become effective for coverage.
These maternity benefits languish under neglect of the state, to the detriment of millions of helpless women and children. An effective maternity program not only fulfills the duty of compliance with the law but goes one step further to secure the health of mothers and children for the welfare of society as a whole.
Source: The Hindu
