Chandigarh, March 4, 2020 ( By YS.Rana): Haryana has been awarded third prize by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development for the successful implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana. The Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani presented the award to the state in a ceremony held in New Delhi on Monday.
Giving this information the Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Kamlesh Dhanda said that the award was given to Haryana for the outstanding work executed under this scheme during the period from September 2017 to December 2019. Apart from that, she informed that under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, an amount of Rs 152.72 crore has been disbursed to 3,55,739 beneficiaries since the inception of the scheme in January 2017.
Kamlesh Dhanda said that the scheme was launched by the Central Government in all the districts of the country in January 2017 and under the scheme, the expenditure was borne by the Central and State Government in the ratio of 60:40.
She informed that under the scheme, an amount of Rs 5,000 is paid in three instalments to improve the nutrition of pregnant and lactating mothers. This amount is given to partially compensate the wage loss in terms of cash incentive so that the woman can take rest before and after delivery of the first child. On meeting the prescribed conditions, the first instalment of Rs 1000 can be claimed on early registration of pregnancy, the second instalment of Rs 2000 can be claimed six months after conception, and the third instalment of Rs 2000 can be claimed after the registration of the birth of the child.
Apart from that, she said that the goal of the scheme was to benefit all pregnant women and lactating mothers who are not regular employees of the Central Government or the State Government or public sector undertakings and are not receiving the same benefits under any other scheme. Under the scheme, women and lactating mothers who conceive on or after January 1, 2017, would be eligible to receive benefits under the scheme.
The Minister also said that the State Government has constituted a State-level sanction committee under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana which works to approve projects and activities under the Flexi Fund to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the results of the scheme and monitors their progress. The committee, while reviewing the implementation of the schemes, also ensures that their implementation is as per the prescribed guidelines.
Apart from that, she said that the committee, after conducting field studies to monitor the implementation of the projects, ensures that efforts or resources are not duplicated. The committee is also implementing other projects beneficial to woman and child health and other related fields. Apart from this, the committee also ensures that no inter-district disparities arise in respect of financial practices or in subsidy assistance in the projects.
