Nearly 50 lakh women benefitted from govt scheme for pregnant, lactating mothers: Irani

Nearly 50 lakh women have benefitted from the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana launched in 2017, providing maternity benefits of Rs 5,000 in installments, WCD Minister Smriti Irani told Parliament on Friday.

In a reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Irani said under the scheme, 49,58,172 pregnant and lactating mother have been provided the money in three installments during the period of pregnancy and lactation for the first living child.

"The eligible beneficiaries also receive cash incentive as per the approved norms towards maternity benefit under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), administered by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare after institutional delivery so that on an average, a woman gets Rs 6,000," the Women and Child Development minister said.

Odisha and Telangana are implementing their state-specific maternity benefit scheme and are yet to roll out the implementation of their scheme co-branded with the PMMVY, she said.

Most of the beneficiaries are from Uttar Pradesh, with 8,19,893 women, followed by Andhra Pradesh, with 4,10,134 beneficiaries.

Tamil Nadu, with just 129 beneficiaries, is at the bottom of the list.