So far, the benefits of the scheme have reached 10,000 women approximately, says govt
The Centre is trying to make the maternity benefit programme, which has been marred by delay, ‘fully functional’ by February-end, a senior official said on Monday.
The top economists of the country wrote to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last month flagging the delay in the rollout of the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), which promises pregnant and lactating mothers Rs 6,000 for the birth of the first living child.
In his address to the nation on New Year’s Eve last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the pan-India expansion of the maternity benefit programme which was being implemented on a pilot basis across 53 districts.
Secretary, Women and Child Development Ministry, R K Shrivastava, acknowledged that the implementation of the programme has been slow and attributed it to "initial hiccups" faced in executing a new scheme.
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