NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF STUDY AND RESEARCH IN LAW

RESEARCH TOPIC – TARGET BENEFICIARIES AND BENEFITS OF

PMMVY

RESEARCH PAPER

SUBMITTED TO– DR. SHYAMLA MURTHY

N.U.S.R.L., RANCHI

SUBMITTED BY – ROHIT KUMAR

ROLL NO. – 1014

SECTION –A

SEMESTER -2

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 INTRODUCTION

Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is a maternity benefit program run by the
government of India. It was introduced in 2017 and is implemented by the Ministry of
Women and Child Development. It is a conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant and
lactating women of 19 years of age or above for the first live birth 1. It provides a partial wage
compensation to women for wage-loss during childbirth and childcare and to provide
conditions for safe delivery and good nutrition and feeding practices. In 2013, the scheme
was brought under the National Food Security Act, 2013 to implement the provision of cash
maternity benefit of ₹5,000 stated in the Act.2 Presently, the scheme is implemented on a
pilot basis in 53 selected districts and proposals are under consideration to scale it up to 200
additional 'high burden districts' in 2015–16.

The scheme, rechristened Maternity benefits programme is set to cover the entire
nation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his 2017 New Year's Eve speech, announced that
the scheme will be scaled up to cover 650 districts of the country. The announcement
assumes significance as India accounts for 17% of all maternal deaths in the world. The
country's maternal mortality rate is pegged at 130 per 100,000 live births, whereas infant
mortality is estimated at 43 per 1,000 live births. Among the primary causes of high maternal
and infant mortality are poor nutrition and inadequate medical care during pregnancy and
childbirth.3

Under-nutrition continues to adversely affect majority of women in India. In India, every

third woman is undernourished and every second woman is anaemic. An undernourished
mother almost inevitably gives birth to a low birth weight baby. When poor nutrition starts
in-utero, it extends throughout the life cycle since the changes are largely irreversible. Owing
to economic and social distress many women continue to work to earn a living for their
family right up to the last days of their pregnancy. Furthermore, they resume working soon
after childbirth, even though their bodies might not permit it, thus preventing their bodies

1
https://thewire.in/gender/maternity-benefit-programme
2
. The Hindu. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015
3
Times of India Blog. Retrieved 6 May 2017.

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from fully recovering on one hand, and also impeding their ability to exclusively breastfeed
their young infant in the first six months.

Maternity Benefit Disbursed to 1.36 Crore Beneficiaries under PMMVY

Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is a maternity benefit scheme. As on

9th March 2020, 1.36 crore of eligible beneficiaries have received maternity benefit of one or
more than one instalment amounting to Rs.5657.10 crore (US$ 809.43 million) through
Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) directly in their bank accounts.

As on 9.3.2020, 85,56,731 beneficiaries have received full financial assistance of Rs 5,000

(US$ 71.54) under the scheme.

The number of children born during last three years is as follows:

2019-20 (Till
Financial Year 2017-18 2018-19
January 2020)

Number of children
2,07,84,374 2,08,89,154 1,75,45,264
born

The number of births for which third instalment under PMMVY has been claimed by the
eligible beneficiaries is as under:

2019-20 (As
Financial Year 2017-18 2018-19
on 6.03.2020)

Number of births for

which third Instalment
31,37,523 43,33,362 16,95,687
under PMMVY was
claimed

State-wise Number of beneficiaries and amount disbursed

(as on 09.03.2020)

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 Number
State/ UT Name Total Payment (Rs)
of beneficiaries

ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR

4,371 1,95,31,000
ISLANDS

ANDHRA PRADESH 8,51,295 374,54,68,000

ARUNACHAL PRADESH 12,316 5,06,60,000

ASSAM 4,50,886 191,30,22,000

BIHAR 9,91,477 363,21,34,000

CHANDIGARH 15,745 6,54,93,000

CHHATTISGARH 3,36,849 127,98,17,000

DADRA AND NAGAR

5,880 2,28,25,000
HAVELI

DAMAN AND DIU 3,110 1,21,19,000

DELHI 1,43,790 60,74,08,000

GOA 12,374 5,20,58,000

GUJARAT 6,42,355 288,98,83,000

HARYANA 3,70,605 160,07,80,000

HIMACHAL PRADESH 1,28,924 55,79,73,000

JAMMU AND KASHMIR 1,27,962 52,10,10,000

JHARKHAND 3,72,284 149,85,24,000

KARNATAKA 7,38,937 324,04,42,000

KERALA 4,24,175 175,06,77,000

LAKSHADWEEP 552 1976000.00

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MADHYA PRADESH 15,29,222 644,18,99,000

MAHARASHTRA 14,24,695 619,64,51,000

MANIPUR 28,395 13,38,82,000

MEGHALAYA 17,811 7,17,05,000

MIZORAM 16,933 7,53,49,000

NAGALAND 16,046 7,61,72,000

Odisha 5 23000.00

PUDUCHERRY 13,437 5,90,31,000

PUNJAB 2,49,243 107,35,08,000

RAJASTHAN 8,35,572 322,96,79,000

SIKKIM 6,304 2,68,40,000

TAMIL NADU 5,42,691 166,61,02,000

TELANGANA 0 0.00

TRIPURA 50,987 19,82,64,000

UTTAR PRADESH 24,68,818 10 09,58,37,000

UTTARAKHAND 1,11,387 47,77,14,000

WEST BENGAL 7,35,098 328,67,76,000

All India Total 1,36,80,531 5657,10,32,000

Benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

Mentioned below are the benefits of PMMVY scheme:

➢ Cash benefits that are provided under the scheme are provided in three instalments of
Rs.1,000, Rs.2,000, and Rs.2,000, respectively. However, for each instalment, the

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 conditions that are required to be met are different and the documents that must be
submitted may vary.
➢ Candidates that are eligible for the scheme will receive incentives that are provided under
the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY). Maternity benefits are provided for individuals under
the JSY, therefore, on an average, a woman gets benefits of Rs.6,000.

The PMMVY-CAS solution features are

➢ Comprehensive end-to-end DBT solution

➢ Flexibility to be implemented by the Department opted in the State/UT level (WCD/
Social Welfare or Health)
➢ Integrated with Aadhaar Authentication Agency for demographic Aadhaar
authentication
➢ and PFMS for Bank/Post Office account validation and Aadhaar seeding confirmation
from NPCI
➢ Facility to export data to DBT Bharat Portal
➢ Aligned with LGD (Local Government Directory) codes
➢ All scheme conditionality verified by software application
➢ Permits migration of beneficiaries anywhere in India
➢ Permits beneficiary to avail benefits over multiple pregnancies. Availing benefits over
➢ multiple pregnancies is allowed only in case if first pregnancy is not completed.
➢ Comprehensive reports, dashboards and Migration

The State will also have immunity from execution, as it would be improper for the courts of
one State to seize the property of another State. Immunity from execution may also generally
be waived.

Waiving immunity from execution may be difficult for a government to address. As a general
proposition under most legal systems, certain assets belonging to the state should not be
available for satisfaction of the execution of an arbitral award; for example, the country’s
foreign embassies, or consular possessions. Therefore, some method may have to be made
available for the private party to seize certain state assets, possibly through careful definition
of those possessions available for seizure.

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 BENEFICIARIES

➢ PW & LM who are not part of companies that provide similar benefits, Public Sector
Undertakings (PSUs), and regular state and central government employees will be
benefited from PMMVY.
➢ All PW & LM who have their pregnancy for their first child on or after 1 January
2017.
➢ Depending on the date mentioned on the Mother and Child Protection (MCP) Card,
the stage and date of the pregnancy will be considered. The date and stage are
considered with respect to their Last Menstrual Period (LMP) date.
➢ Stillbirth/miscarriage: In case of stillbirth or miscarriage, the below-mentioned
conditions apply:
➢ Under the scheme, the beneficiary is allowed to receive benefits only once.
➢ The remaining instalments can be claimed by the beneficiary during any future
pregnancy.
➢ Therefore, in case a beneficiary suffers miscarriage after the first instalment, only
during a future pregnancy will she be able to receive the second and third instalments.
However, the eligibility criteria must be met by the individual in order to receive the
benefits. Similarly, if the beneficiary suffers a miscarriage or stillbirth after receiving
the second instalment, she would be able to receive the third instalment in case of a
pregnancy in the future.
➢ Benefits under the scheme can also be received by lactating and pregnant Accredited
Social Health Activist (ASHA)/Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs)/ Anganwadi Worker
women (AWW). However, women must meet the required eligibility criteria in order
to receive the benefits.
➢ In case of infant mortality: Beneficiaries are eligible to get benefits under the
scheme only one time. In the case of infant mortality, if she has already claimed all
three instalments, she will not be able to claim any benefits under the scheme.

Beneficiaries under the old MBP scheme (also known as IGMSY)

Beneficiaries who are in receipt of first instalment under the old MBP (IGMSY) scheme can
claim for Third Instalment under the PMMVY scheme, subject to meeting the eligibility

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criteria of PMMVY. The beneficiaries who have registered under old MBP scheme (IGMSY)
but have received any instalment may register under PMMVY Scheme provided they fulfil
the eligibility criteria of PMMVY Scheme.

Beneficiaries who have registered under the old MBP (IGMSY) scheme:

➢ Have not claimed any instalment can claim for all three instalments under the
PMMVY scheme, subject to meeting the eligibility criteria of PMMVY.
➢ Have claimed the first instalment under the old MBP (IGMSY) scheme, can claim
only the third instalment under the PMMVY scheme, provided they fulfil the
eligibility criteria of PMMVY Scheme.

BENEFICIARY PROCESS UNDER PMMVY

1. LMP Date is mandatory to be provided to claim benefits under the scheme, the
LMP Date, as found in the MCP Card is mandatory to claim the 1st and 2nd
instalment. If LMP Date is not provided, the beneficiary is not eligible to claim the
1st and 2nd Instalment and can claim only the 3rd instalment provided she fulfils
the conditionality for availing third instalment of the scheme.
2. The beneficiary avail services if she registers herself with the field functionary after
150 days of LMP. They has to register her pregnancy at the approved health facility
within 150 days from the date of LMP which needs to be entered in the MCP Card.
Thereafter, she can apply for availing maternity benefit at Anganwadi Centre or to
ASHA/ANM within 730 days from the date of LMP.
3. If the LMP date is before 1st April, 2016, the beneficiary is not eligible for availing
maternity benefit under PMMVY and therefore, is considered ineligible by the
system (PMMMVYCAS).
4. LMP date of the beneficiary is 4 January 2017 and the Date of Registration of MCP card is
8 July 2017. The date of registration of the beneficiary in the MCP card must be within 150
days from the LMP date to be eligible to claim the First Instalment under the scheme.
5. Antenatal Check-up (ANC) needs to be done for availing 2nd instalment. The
beneficiary is required to do at least one ANC for availing 2nd instalment. The
instalment may be claimed after 6 months (180 days) from the LMP date.

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6. Since only government hospitals have authority to register/ update the MCP Card,
beneficiary taking services from private hospitals can not avail the benefit of the
scheme as MCP card details are mandatory for claiming any instalment under
PMMVY. However, if the requisite conditions are duly certified by a government
doctor or officer/ functionary of the Health Department not below the rank of
ANM, the beneficiary can claim maternity benefit under PMVVY and the claim
should be accepted by the Field Functionary (AWW/ANM/ASHA).
7. A beneficiary has completed her ANC within 4 months from LMP and has
immediately applied for Instalment 2, she becomes ineligible. As per the PMMVY
Scheme Implementation Guidelines, Instalment 2 can only be claimed after 180
days from LMP date provided ANC has been completed. The date of ANC can be
any time before the Date of Claim of Instalment 2, but the instalment can be
claimed only after 180 days from LMP.
8. ANC can be done anytime between LMP Date and Date of Claim of Instalment 2.
The date of last completed ANC needs to be provided for claiming the Instalment 2.
9. The date of delivery for the first child of the beneficiary is 1st January 2017, the
beneficiary is eligible for all the instalments under the PMMVY Scheme subject to
meeting all other eligibility conditions for the individual instalments.
10. A beneficiary has received Instalment 2 and forgotten to apply for Instalment 1 for
that the dates of claims have to be in sequence, i.e. date of claim of first instalment
≤ date of claim of second instalment ≤ date of claim of third instalment. But the
claims can be entered in the system in any order. The scheme conditionalities need
to be adhered to.
11. The beneficiary can apply for benefits under the PMMVY Scheme within 730 days
from LMP date or 460 days from the date of Child Birth (in case of unavailability
of LMP date) subject to fulfillment of all the other eligibility criteria under the
Scheme.
12. The date of registration under PMMVY Scheme cannot be before 1st January 2017.
Any Old MBP scheme beneficiary must freshly register in PMMVY by filling up
the appropriate form on a date on or after 1st January 2017.
13. The beneficiary hos an LMP date of 7th June 2016 and has not received any money
from Old MBP scheme but as if then she is eligible for all instalments if the LMP
falls after 1st April 2016 and delivery date must be on or after 1st January 2017
given all the other eligibility conditions are met.
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 14. If a beneficiary has received the first instalment in Old MBP Scheme, she is eligible
to claim only Instalment 3 provided she fulfils the required eligibility conditions.

PMMVY Eligibility Conditions

Table 1 – Scheme Conditions

Instalment Conditions Document Required Amount

First Instalment Requires mother to:- • Duly filled 1,000
Register her Application Form
pregnancy in the 1A
MCP card along • Copy of MCP
with required Card
documents within • Copy of Identity
150 days from LMP. Proof • Copy of
Bank/ Post Office
Account Passbook
Second Instalment - At least one Ante • Duly filled 2,000
Natal Check Up - Can Application Form 1 B
be claimed post 180 • Copy of MCP Card
days of Pregnancy
Third Instalment • Child Birth is • Duly filled 2,000
registered. Application Form 1C
• Child has received • Copy of MCP Card
first cycle of • Copy of Aadhaar ID
immunizations of CG, • Copy of Child Birth
OPV, DPT and Registration
Hepatatis B. Certificate
• Aadhaar is
mandatory in all states
except for J&K,
Assam, Meghalaya

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Note - Beneficiaries who have received only the first instalment under the old MBP (IGMSY) scheme
can claim only third Instalment under the PMMVY scheme, subject to meeting the criteria of
PMMVY.

Need for the scheme PMMVY

➢ India’s 70% population lives in rural area. Though we speak about urbanization, the
country rural women are still out there deprived of basic facilities. Especially the
pregnant women population suffers from malnutrition and high maternity mortality
rate. About 56, 000 0f every 100, 000 in India is deprived of sufficient pregnancy
nutrition
➢ MMR – Maternal Mortality Rate is the number of deaths of pregnant women during
live birth amongst 100, 000 of the live births.
➢ As per the recent report of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) – 4 conducted by
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2015-16, 22.9% women (15-49 years of
age) are underweight (BMI less than 18.5 kg/m2). The five States having highest
percentage of malnutrition among women are Jharkhand (31.5%), Bihar (30.4%),
Dadra and Nagar Haveli (28.7%), Madhya Pradesh (28.4%), Gujarat (27.2%) and
Rajasthan (27%).
➢ The Government has accorded high priority to the issue of malnutrition and is making
serious efforts to address this issue. Several schemes with direct as well as indirect
interventions are being implemented across the country. Schemes like Anganwadi
Services, Scheme for Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna (PMMVY) under the
Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme are direct targeted
interventions being implemented to address the problem of malnutrition among
women in the country.
➢ Anganwadi Services Scheme aims to improve the nutritional and health status of
pregnant women & lactating mothers and reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity
and malnutrition. Under the Scheme, pregnant women and lactating mothers are

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 provided supplementary nutrition, nutrition and health education, immunization,
health check-up and referral services.
➢ Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is implemented with an aim to
provide cash incentive to improve health seeking behaviour amongst the Pregnant
Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) and to compensate partially the wage loss in
terms of cash incentive so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after
delivery of the first child.

Issues with the scheme PMMVY

➢ Registration for the scheme requires an applicant to provide her husband’s Aadhaar
details along with her own. It affects single women, including unwed mothers, deserted
wives and widows.

➢ The form also requires separate undertakings on “the first living child” from the woman
and her husband.

➢ A mother seeking benefits needs to provide address proof of her marital home. It
is challenging for a newlywed expecting a child and often residing in her natal home
during pregnancy.

➢ The scheme requires an applicant to be at least 19 years old which leaves out younger
brides, who get married at the legal age of 18 years but hesitate in getting their marriages
registered. 30-35% of first-time mothers are under the age of 18 years.

➢ The documentation work leaves out many women living on the margins such as sex
workers, women in custody, migrant and those living in post-conflict situations. They all
are unable to claim benefits even though they are most in need of monetary compensation.

➢ Women have to pay a hefty bribe during the application process. It goes as high as ₹500/-
for each of the three forms so it is not easy for the women coming from financially weaker
sections.

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 Ours Perspective on benefits and beneficiaries of PMMVY

In India the argument often made regarding welfare provisioning is that there is no
shortage of policies, however implementation is where the real problem lies.

Though this is largely true, in the case of the PMMVY, both design and implementation
issues exist simultaneously.

The National Food Security Act 2013 (NFSA) recognises the right of every mother to a
maternity benefit of no less than Rs 6,000, that is to be provisioned via schemes framed by
the Central government. Given this, the PMMVY should account for the universal right to
maternity entitlements, and the minimum cash amount mandated by the NFSA. However,
in fact, by limiting the cash provision to Rs 5,000 and restricting the benefit to the first
live birth of women over 18 years, the PMVVY subverts the NFSA.

Last December, 60 experts had written to erstwhile finance minister Arun Jaitley, stating
that a Central government budget of Rs 8,000 crore is necessary to ensure the right to
maternity benefits of all women defined as per the NFSA. This estimate was based on the
crude birth rate of 19 per thousand and the 60:40 PMMVY fund share ratio between the
Central and state government.

Despite this, the 2019-20 budget allocates only Rs 2,500 crore for the PMMVY. While this
is more than the previous year’s budget, it is still significantly lower than the required
amount.

In addition to the issues related to the design and funding of the programme, the conditions
specified for receipt of the three instalments (see Table 1) rely heavily on the local -level
government functionaries. While this approach would make sense in a situation of
adequate training, incentivisation, and accountability, a qualitative study conducted by the
authors in Manika block in Latehar, Jharkhand in June 2019 reveals this is not the reality.

Anganwadi workers, the ground-level functionaries of the program, stated that they have
not received their salary since January 2019. Despite this, they are expected to shoulder a
large part of the responsibility of implementing the PMMVY, as well as other state -run
programmes at the village-level.

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Information gaps regarding the PMMVY are widespread amongst anganwadi workers. For
instance, most were uncertain about the cut-off point for submission of applications, what
to do in the case of a miscarriage, or that an Aadhaar card application number is sufficient
to register a beneficiary.

Conversations with anganwadi workers also revealed that sometimes they face challenges
in registering women as they do not get Aadhaar cards, or open bank accounts despite
repeated reminders. This situation is confounding and begs the question – why are women
in situations of deprivation not enthusiastic about the PMMVY? It is difficult to identify a
precise reason for this, however the complexity of, and the lack of clarity regarding
processes is a likely factor.

Even when women have the necessary documentation to open a bank account, the process
is intimidating and difficult. For instance we met a nervous young mother with her three-
month old child at the State Bank of India, Manika branch.

They had made eight trips to open an account in order to apply for the PMMVY, but a
bank employee rudely told her that no accounts were being opened for the next 15 days,
without providing a reason for the same.

A PMMVY application is processed only if an applicant’s name is identical on her

Aadhaar card and bank account. In this region, post-marriage many women change their
surname from ‘Kumari’ to ‘Devi’, and subsequently update their Aadhaar cards to reflect
this. As a result womens’ Aadhaar and bank account details often do not match. We met
several women facing this issue and at a loss for a solution.

These cases illustrate the types of hurdles women face in procuring mandatory
documentation for applying to the PMMVY. Given this it is hardly surprising that some
stop trying.

Finally, payment delays are chronic. Owing to the highly centralised payment architecture,
the local functionaries are not equipped to understand the reasons for delay. The non -
payment of benefits has led to a reluctance on the part of anganwadi workers to submit
PMMVY applications, because they are repeatedly questioned by applicants when they do
not receive their entitlements. In this way the absence of timely payments is resulting in a

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disincentive to register future beneficiaries, and in turn further exclusion. Furtherm ore, it
is serving to defeat the fundamental objective of the programme, i.e. enabling added rest
and nutrition during pregnancy and after childbirth.

Given the reality of service provision, administrative inefficiencies, and awareness levels
at the local level, this year’s increased budgetary allocation for the PMMVY is a welcome
but inadequate step. Incidentally, the budgeted estimate for the PMMVY in 2018-19 was
Rs 2,400 crore, which was revised downwards to Rs 1,200 crore, presumably due to
underutilisation. To avoid a repeat of last year, there is an urgent need to review the
approach, design, and the implementation of the PMMVY, to ensure it is inclusive and
enables all mothers to claim their right.

References

1. www.hindustantimes.com

2. https://unacademy.com/lesson/pradhan-

mantri...vandana-yojana-in..

3. https://www.outlookindia.com

4. www.freepressjournal.in/mumbaivikaspedia.in/so

cial-welfare/women-and.../pradhan-mantri-matru-

vandana-yojana

5. www.wcd.nic.in

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