Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Union government of violating the National Food Security Act (NFSA) by not allocating adequate funds towards maternity benefits.
The NFSA, passed by Parliament in 2013, provides for a maternity benefit of not less than ₹6,000 to pregnant women and lactating mothers engaged in the unorganised sector. At present, the benefit is provided under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY). Raising the issue through a Zero Hour mention in the Rajya Sabha, Sonia said the scheme provides only ₹5,000 for the first child and the benefit is extended to the second child if it is a girl.
She said that according to an informed analysis in 2022-23, about 68 per cent of pregnant women received at least one instalment for their first child. But in the next year, the proportion fell drastically to just around 12 per cent.
"I would like to ask the Union government why this was allowed to happen. The full implementation of the maternity benefit provision requires an annual budget of ₹12,000 crore. It is surprising that the budget document does not contain information on allocation for the PMMVY separately," she said.
The women and child development ministry runs a programme, Samarthya, which has five components including the PMMVY. The allocation in 2025-26 for Samarthya is only ₹2,521 crore.
"This clearly shows that the PMMVY is severely underfunded, thereby violating the key provision of the law passed by Parliament," Sonia said.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on March 19, minister of state for women and child development Savitri Thakur said that under the PMMVY, a maternal benefit of ₹5,000 is provided to eligible beneficiaries during the period of pregnancy and lactation. The beneficiary also receives the remaining cash incentive under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) after institutional delivery.
"Normally, the first pregnancy of a woman exposes her to new kinds of challenges and stress factors. Hence, the scheme provides support to the mother for safe delivery and immunisation of her first child," Thakur said.