Over 17 lakh beneficiaries linked with PMMVY: Govt

Over 17 lakh beneficiaries have enrolled under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) till date and every day around 50,000 applications are received, the government said today.

The Government of India has approved the pan-India implementation of the PMMVY in all districts of the country from January 1, 2017, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) said.

Under the scheme, eligible beneficiaries get Rs 5,000 and the remaining cash incentive of Rs 1,000 for maternity benefit is given under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) after institutional delivery, it said, adding that in total a woman receives Rs 6,000.

"The number of beneficiaries has increased to 17,66,423. Every day on an average, around 50,000 new applications are received for enrolment.

"So far, Rs 2,048.21 crore to all states/UTs have been sanctioned under the PMMVY, out of which Rs 2,042.09 crore has been released till date," the ministry said in a statement.

The scheme implementation guidelines, the software for the rollout of the scheme-- Common Application Software (PMMVY- CAS) -- and its user manual were launched in September 2017 by WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi.

Maternity benefits under PMMVY are given to all pregnant and lactating mothers.

The scheme aims at providing partial compensation for wage loss in terms of cash incentives so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first living child.