Maternal health plays a vital role in enabling women to have a relatively easy and complication-free delivery. Back in 2015, India accounted for one-fifth of the global maternal deaths, which is an alarmingly large number. Health inequities and social hierarchies were the main reasons for this. A significantly large number of women, especially in rural India, suffer from anaemia and undernourishment. This, in turn, becomes a worrisome factor for healthy pregnancies and healthy births since undernourished mothers normally give birth to low birth weight babies, most times with complications.
Due to various social factors, most women work until the last stages of pregnancy and soon after they deliver, which is far from healthy since their bodies do not get enough rest or time for recovery. It affects their ability to breastfeed the baby properly when that nourishment is crucial in the first six months. This is what adversely affects the health of the mother as well as the baby. In order to address this concern, the Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) was launched.
What is Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana?
Formerly known as the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana, the PMMVY was introduced in the year 2017 to provide a direct cash benefit to pregnant and lactating mothers above the age of 19 or above for the first live birth. It is a social welfare maternity benefit programme implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
Objectives of PMMVY
- The mother getting adequate rest before and after delivery of the first living child is vital, which is why the PMMVY ensures providing cash compensation against any wage loss.
- Good healthcare and institutional care are essential to reduce the risk of the disease; hence the same is promoted.
- Promoting healthy behaviour among pregnant/lactating mothers by promoting good nutrition and feeding practices to reduce infant mortality rate and malnutrition.
Who Can Avail PMMVY?
- All pregnant women/lactating women except those employed with the Government or those who receive similar benefits under some other law for the time being can avail PMMVY.
- Only for those women whose pregnancies commenced after the date being 01/01/2017 and also the pregnancy being the first child in the family.
Benefits Of PMMVY
The incentive disbursal structure under the PMMVY is broken down into three instalments:-
- On the early registration of the pregnancy at an Anganwadi Centre/approved health facility – Rs. 1,000.
- After six months of pregnancy and receiving at least one ante-natal check-up – Rs. 2,000
- After the birth of a child is registered, and the child has received the first cycle of immunisation for BCG, OPV, DPT and Hepatitis-B – Rs. 2,000.
Registration Procedure Under PMMVY
- Log onto the https://pmmvy-cas.nic.in and log into the software using the approved health facility’s login details.
- The Beneficiary Registration Form (Application Form 1A) will be available under the “New Beneficiary” button which is to be filled in with the relevant details with the help of the User Manual.
- The Application Form 1A, once submitted, will enable the applicant to receive the first instalment of the scheme.
- After 6 months, in order to avail the second instalment, the applicant must log in again, click on the “Second Instalment” tab and proceed to fill in the Form 1B with the help of the instructions in the User Manual.
- To receive the third and last instalment, after the birth of the child and the completion of the first cycle of immunisation, the applicant may log in again and proceed to fill in the Form 1C under the “Third Instalment” tab, as usual, with the instructions given in the User Manual.
Documentation Needed
- Copy of the Mother and Child Protection Card (MCP).
- Copy of the Identity Proof of the beneficiary and her husband.
- Copy of Bank Account/Post Office Account Passbook.
Exceptional Cases
In case of a miscarriage or a stillbirth, the beneficiary may still be eligible to claim the remaining instalments for a future pregnancy.
For instance, where the beneficiary has received the first instalment and then has a miscarriage, she is still eligible to claim the remaining instalments for a future pregnancy.
In case of infant mortality, if the beneficiary has received all the benefits of the PMMVY scheme earlier, she is not eligible to receive them again.
