Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) – Rs. 6000 Pregnancy Aid Scheme

Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is the renamed and revamped version of Matritva Sahyog Yojana under which government would provide Rs. 6000 financial aid to pregnant and lactating mothers for the first live birth. Similar to many other central govt’s welfare schemes, the government has added “Pradhan Mantri” in the name of this scheme too.

The central union cabinet has approved the new name Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) to make it more appealing. According to the women and child welfare department, the earlier pregnancy aid scheme was not so successful, even many people didn’t knew about it.

All the pregnant women and lactating mothers who have their first pregnancy on or after 1 January 2017 can avail the scheme benefits subject to other eligibility criteria. The date and stage of pregnancy for a beneficiary would be counted with respect to her LMP date as mentioned in the MCP card. In case of miscarriage of first child, the women can avail rest of the installments during her future pregnancy. However, a beneficiary is eligible to receive the scheme benefits only once.

PM Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) Latest Update

Central govt. will soon extend its flagship programme namely Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana. PMMVY is currently applicable to eligible pregnant women and lactating mothers for the first child in the family to the second one only if the child born is a girl. Move aimed at discouraging pre-birth sex selection. Besides this, Aadhaar of husband will not be a mandatory criteria in the modified guidelines of PMMVY in order to facilitate inclusion of single mother and abandoned mother.

Under the centrally sponsored PMMVY scheme maternity benefit of Rs. 5,000 is provided in three installments to eligible pregnant women and lactating mothers for the first living child of the family. In a writen response to a question in Rajya Sabha on whether the government plans to extend the scheme beyond the first birth order, the minister for women and child development Smriti Irani said: “As per the recommendations of the expenditure finance committee’s minutes on Mission Shakti, benefits for second child may be provided only if the second child is a girl to discourage pre-birth-sex selection and promote the girl child.”

It is learnt from sources that the recommended extension of scheme is expected to be implemented after the revised guidelines under Mission Shakti are issued by the WCD ministry. The PMMVY is estimated to cover 51.70 lakh beneficiaries annually.

Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) – Objective

The pregnancy aid scheme would help pregnant women in many ways but the two main objectives of the scheme are as follows:-

1. Providing the partial compensation to working women against their wage loss and ensure their proper rest nutrition.
2. Improving the health of pregnant women and lactating mothers and reducing the effects of under-nutrition through cash incentives.

Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) which was earlier named as Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana during the UPA rule has been renamed for the second time. The scheme would be implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

PMMVY Registration / Application Forms

The eligible women desirous of availing maternity benefits are required to register under the PMMVY scheme at the Anganwadi Centre (AWC)/ approved Health facility depending upon the implementing department for that particular State/UT.

The registration for the scheme can be done by filling up the prescribed PMMVY application form and submitting it with the AWC (Anganwadi Center) or the approved health facility. The complete details of the PMMVY application / registration forms is available at the link here – PMMVY Registration / Application Forms

Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana – Benefits

The scheme would benefit pregnant women and lactating mothers for the birth of their first live child. The benefit amount would be send directly to the bank account of the beneficiary through DBT mode. As per the reports, government would pay the amount in installments as following.

1st Installment: Rs. 1000 at the time of registration of pregnancy.
2nd Installment: Rs. 2,000 if they carry out at least one antenatal check-up after six months of pregnancy.
3rd Installment: Rs. 2,000 When the birth of child is registered and the child has received first cycle of vaccines, including BCG, OPV, DPT and hepatitis-B.

PMMVY Installments

The eligible beneficiaries would receive the incentive given under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) for Institutional delivery and the incentive received under JSY would be accounted towards maternity benefits so that on an average a woman gets Rs. 6000/-.

PMMVY – Rs. 6000 Pregnancy Aid Scheme Guidelines

The complete guidelines including the eligibility criteria of the pregnancy aid scheme can be downloaded from the official website of ministry of women and child development using the links here – https://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/PMMVY%20Scheme%20Implemetation%20Guidelines%20._0.pdf

Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) would not be applicable for the following category of pregnant women and lactating mothers

1. Those who are in regular employment with central or state government or any public sector undertaking.
2. Those who are the recipients of similar benefits under any other scheme or law.

Detailed information about the PMMVY can be found on the official website of Ministry of Women and Child Development at www.wcd.nic.in