Imandi Sudheer, the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Vizianagaram North Zone, said on Thursday that the Matru Vandana scheme, which provides 5,000 to each pregnant woman for nutritious food, was a tremendous help.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship programme in the district has aided thousands of pregnant women from low-income families. Mr. Sudheer, who toured various Anganwadi centres in Vizianagaram as part of raising public awareness about the Union government's programmes, stated that mother and child care was given top importance by the Union government.
“The Union government is sanctioning around 70% funds for mother and child welfare programmes being implemented with the State government, which is not known to many beneficiaries. That is why, we are visiting hospitals, Anganwadi centres and other places to explain to the people about the Matru Vandana scheme, vaccination drive and other programmes,” said Mr. Sudheer.
The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, formerly known as the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana, is an Indian government-run maternity benefit programme. It was first released in 2010 and was renamed in 2017. The Ministry of Women and Child Development is in charge of implementing the programme. It is a conditional cash transfer programme for pregnant and lactating mothers aged 19 or older who give birth to their first child. It compensates women for lost wages due to childbirth and childcare, as well as creating circumstances for safe delivery and healthy nutrition and feeding practises. The scheme was established in 2013 under the National Food Security Act, 2013 to implement the Act's provision of a 6,000-dollar cash maternity benefit. The qualified recipients would get the Janani Suraksha Yojana incentive for institutional delivery, and the JSY incentive would be applied to maternity payments, resulting in a total of 6,000 rupees for each mother.
