Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana-beneficiaries cross 1.75 crore

• Be N By IAS, Delhi
• 04, Feb 2021

For : GS:2- Social issues-Maternity Benefits

CONTEXT:

• The government’s maternity benefit scheme, or Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, has crossed 1.75 crore eligible women till financial year 2020, the Centre informed Parliament on Thursday.

NEWS IN DETAILS:

• Funding Disbursed:
  • A total sum of ₹5,931.95 crore was paid to 1.75 crore eligible beneficiaries between financial year 2018 and 2020.
  • Apart from that, ₹2,063.70 crore was disbursed in the current fiscal to 65.12 lakh women, Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani informed the Rajya Sabha.
• Government Target: According to the government’s initial estimate, it aimed to reach 51.7 lakh women per year through the scheme.
  • However, disaggregated data on how many of these were unique beneficiaries, and
  • how many were those receiving different instalments of the scheme was not provided.

PRADHAN MANTRI MATRU VANDANA YOJANA (PMMVY):

• Eligible: Pregnant women and lactating mothers
• Cash Incentive: ₹5,000 on the birth of their first child in three instalments, after fulfilling certain conditionalities.
• Objective:
  • To help expectant mothers meet enhanced nutritional requirements as well as
  • To partially compensate them for wage loss during their pregnancy.
• Started from: Announced on December 31, 2016, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Source: The Hindu

MCQs:

Q. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana is a maternity benefit scheme. Which of the following statement is correct regarding it?

• a) All Pregnant women and lactating mothers are eligible
• b) It provides a cash Incentive of ₹6,000 on the birth of their first child
• c) It is aimed to help expectant mothers meet enhanced nutritional requirements
• d) The benefits are available to employee of Central and State government

ANS: C