The Government of India has introduced Pradhan Mantri Matritva Yojana (PMMVY) which came into effect from January this year to help all pregnant women and lactating mothers with financial support of Rs 6,000 in mode of direct benefit transfer (DBT) from the Ministry of Child and Women Development.
The resource sharing between the Centre and the State is in a ratio of 60:40 for general category of States but special category States and Union Territories will have about 90 per cent to 100per cent Central assistance under the scheme.
The Centre has allocated Rs 13,000 crore for this scheme. The eligible women must have BPl card, Aadhara card, bank account and the filled up form have to be sent through local hospitals to the Women and Child Development Department in the State. It is told that the scheme aims to encourage institutional delivery, nourishment of mother and financially compensate to the wage loss of women labourer during pregnancy and after to take care of the new born.
Earlier the scheme was named as the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) which was introduced in 2010 across 56 districts as pilot project and was applicable for two live births aiming to bring down the maternal mortality rate in the country. There are also schemes such as Janani Surakshya Yojana started in 2005 for safe motherhood intervention focusing BPl, SCs and STs with 100per cent Central assistance. The National Food Security Act 2013 also has provision of universal coverage of maternity benefit for every pregnant and lactating mother.
However, though the PMMVY has provision of pan-India implementation of maternity benefit programme, but it is restricted only to the first birth which will affect the poor and marginalized and excluded them from accessing the benefits.
The maternity benefit (MB) made available by the Central and State Governments have no universal coverage and very insignificantly benefit the poor and marginalized women who are not coming under the labour laws. The women employees of the Central and the State Governments, public sector and other organized sector have been enjoying the benefit of holidays with payment from the State exchequer. The duration of the maternity leave has been increased from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for the first two children in the Maternity Benefit Amendment Act 2017. The Act has ensured crèche facilities for establishments having 50 women employees and the women will have scope of working from home in case the nature of work does not suit her in taking care of the child. The maternity benefit for children beyond two and for women who legally adopt a child below 3 months or a commissioning mother shall be entitled for benefit of 12 weeks.
The State of Tamil Nadu has maternity benefit scheme which provides Rs 18,000 to pregnant women of below poverty line and the State Government also passed an order to increase the maternity leave to nine months in 2016. The scheme was started in 1987 with amount of Rs 3,000 per women and in 2011 raised to Rs 12,000 up to two deliveries but now it is Rs 18,000 in 2017. The scheme is named after Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy, a medical practitioner, social reformer and activist who was the first women legislator in 1928 in the Madras legislative Council.
The Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board has a scheme for female workers. A woman has completed one year of registration is eligible to get an amount of Rs 8,000 towards maternity benefit. Way back a Maternity Benefit Bill was legally first time introduced in the Bombay legislative Council in the year 1928 by Dr BR Ambedkar and he had also demanded to extend it to whole of India.
later along with equal wage for both men and women workers, he was instrumental in bringing the Mines Maternity Benefit Bill for the women workers in all over India in the capacity of labour Minister. His understanding was that in the interest of the nation, the mother ought to get a certain amount of rest during pre-natal period and subsequently.
But even after 65years of constitutional Governance, there has been no provision of universal coverage of maternal benefit (MB) for all women. The educated women employees have more privilege to enjoy out of public fund than the poor working women. There is no uniformity in the available labour laws about MB and the labour Ministry has included maternity benefit in labour code on social security and welfare which also includes the Unorganized Sector Social Security Act 2008 to cover all women employees of unorganized sector. The delay in decision making process deprives women of their basic entitlements of benefit sharing out of public finance.
However, it is fact that about 90 per cent of women have been deprived of getting MB who are mostly in unorganized sector and comparatively poor wage earners whereas they deserve the most.
The working women, daily wage earners, contractual workers , women in agricultural work , farmers and agricultural workers, self-employed women, Dalit and Adivasi in interior parts are not getting adequate MB from the Government.
They suffer in family because of their poor economic condition and loss wage during pregnancy while they need additional support during that critical period to face the extra expenses to take care of self and for carrying infant and ensuring breastfeeding of the newborn.
These section of women are deprived of access to quality health service and live in subhuman condition without basic amenities such as house, drinking water and toilet facilities.
It is a fact that pregnant women in poor families have to walk a long distance to collect water and for open defecation. The family income and minimal Government support is not enough to maintain nutritional diet required and to meet the expenses of regular checkup and medicines.
There are interior parts having poor healthcare infrastructure and transportation facility to attend the emergency need of the pregnant women. The cases of number of unsafe delivery have been reported in many parts of Odisha because of poor transportation facilities and the negligence of the dedicated service providers.
The hospitals in rural areas are not equipped with adequate trained staff and other required facilities such as medical instruments for safe delivery. The service providers in rural villages are not adequately trained to handle the cases and make them available during emergency.
The women of Dalit, Adivasi communities and PVTG in interior parts face social discrimination by service providers as many of the health workers do not visit their habitations and house of pregnant women. So the Government support is more required for poor women. The poor working women must have wage compensation for ten months and crèche facilities must be available to all working women near their place of work or at their habitations.
Referring the report of fertility indicators based on sample registration system data, health researchers opine that the PMMVY will exclude about 60 per cent of women who are in their second birth as the scheme is limited to only first birth.
Mostly majority of poor and illiterate women will not get any benefit out of this. It is also a fact that many women workers of unorganized sector are losing their job because of their pregnancy and the employers are not willing to pay due to loss of work during pregnancy and after. There has been a demand for universal maternity benefit that includes wage compensation, nutrition, healthcare and crèche facilities for all women, more particularly for women of the poor and marginalized sections who are suffering due to low wage, poverty and malnutrition.
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