Maternity payout covers just 20% of births, claim activists

NEW DELHI: Right to Food activists have expressed concern over barely 20% of births each year being covered by govt's maternity benefit scheme, despite the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, guaranteeing Rs 6,000 as legal entitlement of all pregnant women.
Data given to RS in March showed that only 54 lakh beneficiaries were paid in 2024-25, much lower than almost 73 lakh in 2022-23, but an improvement over 22.5 lakh beneficiaries in 2023-24. The estimated number of births per year in India is 270 lakh.
Giving maternity benefit of Rs 6,000 per child for 90% of the 270 lakh births would require an annual expenditure of over Rs 14,500 crore. However, the allocation for the maternity benefit scheme, Prime Minister's Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), has stagnated below Rs 2,000 crore in the last few years. The entitlement has not been revised since 2013, which means in real terms it has gone down after adjusting for inflation. Even by a very conservative estimate, maternity benefits should have been raised to at least Rs 12,000, argued the Right to Food activists.

In April 2017, the women and child development ministry told Supreme Court that all pregnant women would receive Rs 6,000 under Section 4 of the NFSA. But instead, the PMMVY was implemented, reducing the benefit to Rs 5,000, restricting it to the first child (or second if it's a girl), and imposing multiple conditionalities.
To get Rs 3,000 (first instalment), pregnancy must be registered and one ante-natal check-up done within six months at an approved facility. For Rs 2,000 (second instalment), childbirth must be registered and the child vaccinated with the first cycle of immunisations.
Eligibility is limited to disadvantaged women who must prove it with documents like ration or BPL cards. Further, women below age of 18 years and seven months are not eligible. Many documents are required, including Aadhaar card, Aadhaar-mapped bank/post office account details, mobile number, eligibility proof, Mother and Child Protection card or Reproductive and Child Health card, date of last menstrual period, date of ante-natal check-up, child's birth certificate, and child immunisation details.
Due to these conditions, most women are excluded. In 2023-24, only 2.7 lakh women (about 1%) received the second instalment. In contrast, Tamil Nadu and Odisha provide Rs 18,000 and Rs 10,000 per pregnancy, with 84% and 64% birth coverage respectively.