Government to conduct survey on maternity benefit scheme to find its efficacy

The government is set to conduct a survey on the relevance and efficacy of the ‘Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana’ (PMMVY), a cash-based maternity benefit scheme launched nearly two years ago.

The scheme, which aims to provide partial compensation for wage loss to women during their pregnancy and offers a cash incentive of Rs 6,000 to mothers for the birth of their first child, has so far reached 4.8 million beneficiaries.

This, according to the government, is about 50% of the targeted population. The estimated enrollment under the scheme till August 2018 was nearly 8.6 million, with the government having disbursed about Rs 1,700 crore to beneficiaries.

People aware of the planned survey told ET that it will be conducted by an independent agency and will look at the ‘’relevance” and implementation of PMMVY , besides giving feedback.

Sources in the know added that while the figures were affected by three states-- Odisha, Telanagana and Tamil Nadu— giving the scheme a miss so far, the state governments of Telangana and Tamil Nadu have now agreed to follow the scheme this year. The states of Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, however, continue to lag behind.