Cabinet approves pan-India implementation of maternity benefit program: All you need to know

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave ex-post facto approval to pan-India implementation of maternity benefit program which now has been extended to all districts of the country with effect from January this year.

The Prime Minister in his address to the nation on December 31 last year had announced pan-India implementation of maternity benefit program.

The maternity benefit program will provide compensation for the wage loss in terms of cash incentives so that the women can take adequate rest before and after delivery and not be deprived of proper nutrition.

Objective of the Scheme

i) To provide 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.

ii) 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.

Target Group

All eligible pregnant women and lactating mothers (PW&LM), excluding the pregnant women and lactating mothers who are in regular employment with the central government or state government or public sector undertakings or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being. It has been decided to give the benefit of Rs 5000/- to PW&LM in three installment for the birth of the first live child by MWCD and the remaining cash incentive as per approved norms towards maternity benefit under existing programmes after institutional delivery so that on an average, a woman will get Rs 6000/-.

Conditions and installments

Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers who are eligible will receive a cash benefit of Rs 5,000/- in three installment at the following stages as specified in the table given below:

Cash Transfer	Conditions	Amount (in Rupee)
First installment	Early Registration of Pregnancy	1,000/-
Second installment	Received at least one antenatal Check-up (after 6 months of pregnancy)	2,000/-
Third installment	-Child birth is registered -Child has received first cycle of BCG, OPV, DPT and Hepatitis-B or its equivalent/substitute	2,000/-

The eligible beneficiaries would continue to receive the remaining cash incentive as per approved norms towards maternity benefit under existing programmes after institutional delivery so that on an average, a woman will get Rs  6000/-.

Mode of cash transfer to the Beneficiaries

The conditional cash transfer scheme would be in DBT mode.