PMMVY - Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana is a government-initiated scheme aimed at providing partial compensation for wage loss in terms of cash incentives so that the women can take proper rest before and after the delivery of their first child. The cash incentive helps in uplifting the health conditions of pregnant and lactating women.

Objective of PMMVY

The importance of proper nutrition cannot be stressed enough to maintain and promote health among individuals. Especially for pregnant and feeding mothers, proper nutrition is essential so that the mother, as well as the child, can have a healthy life. That is why, to ensure that mothers get proper nutrition, the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) was launched by the Government of India. Let’s understand what the scheme is all about and how to apply for the scheme/

What is Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana?

The PMMVY scheme is a Maternity Benefit Scheme launched by the Government on 1st January 2017 under the provisions of the National Food Security Act, 2013. Under this scheme, a cash benefit of Rs.5000 would be paid in instalments to pregnant and lactating women subject to certain terms and conditions.

PM Matru Vandana Yojana eligibility 

The beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana would be pregnant and lactating mothers who become pregnant after 1st January 2017 and the pregnancy is the first child of the family. Pregnant and lactating women who are employed with the Central Government, State Government, Public Sector Undertakings or who are already receiving similar benefits under any other law would not be allowed to avail the cash benefit. 

When applying for the PMMVY scheme, the date of pregnancy and its stage would be determined by the woman’s LMP date as stated in the MCP card.

How is the beneficiary paid?

The cash incentive under the PM Matru Vandana Yojana scheme is offered in three instalments. Here’s how –

• The first instalment of Rs.1000 is paid when the pregnancy is registered early at an approved health facility or at the Anganwadi Centre as allowed by the State or the Union Territory where the woman resides
• The second instalment of Rs.2000 would be paid after the completion of 6 months of pregnancy provided that the woman has undertaken at least one Ante-Natal Check-Up (ANC)
• The third instalment of Rs.2000 would be paid after the child has been born and the birth has been registered. Moreover, the child should be received the first cycle of OPV, BCG, Hepatitis-B and DPT vaccine or its equivalent 

Moreover, eligible women would also be given a cash incentive of Rs.1000 under the Janani Suraksha Yojana in case of institutional delivery and this benefit would be counted as a maternity benefit making the aggregate benefit amount to Rs.6000.

Limitations of receiving the benefit

The benefit under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana is payable only once. If, after receiving any instalment, the woman miscarries, future instalments would not be paid. In such a case, the future instalments would be paid in subsequent pregnancies. If two instalments have been availed and the child is stillborn or dies shortly after birth, the third instalment would not be paid. It would be paid on subsequent pregnancy after the child is born and the conditions of the instalment payment have been fulfilled.

If all the instalments have been received and then the child dies, in case of subsequent pregnancy, no benefit under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana would be payable.

How to Apply for Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

To register for the PM Matru Vandana Yojana scheme, the following steps should be taken –

• Women who are eligible to receive the cash benefit under the PMMVY scheme should register themselves at an approved health facility or at an Anganwadi Centre depending on the State or Union Territory where they reside
• To register, you should submit Form 1A in the prescribed format, filled and signed by you and your husband at the Anganwadi Centre or approved health facility. The form is available at the Anganwadi Centre or health facility. You can also download the form for PMMVY online through the link http://wcd.nic.in 
• Your and your husband’s Aadhaar card details would have to be provided at the time of registration so that the cash benefit is credited to your account through Direct Bank Transfer (DBT). 
• Other documents which would be required for registration would be the written consents of the woman and her husband, the woman’s, the husband’s or any family member’s contact information, the bank or post office account details of the woman beneficiary, identity proof of the woman and her husband and a copy of the Mother and Child Protection Card (MCP Card).
• After the registration is done, an acknowledgement would be provided by the Anganwadi Centre or the approved health facility wherein the registration has been done. This acknowledgement should be kept safe for future references

How to make a claim under the PMMVY scheme?

Here are the steps of making the instalment claims under PMMVY are as follows –

• For the first instalment

Form 1A, copy of the MCP card, identity proofs of the woman and her husband and the bank or post office account details of the beneficiary should be submitted. The instalment would, then, be credited to the woman’s account directly after verification of the documents submitted 

• For the second instalment

For the second instalment, the beneficiary should fill up and submit Form 1B after completing six months of pregnancy. Along with the form, the MCP Card’s copy and the proof of having undergone at least one Ante-Natal Check-up (ANC) should be submitted. Once the documents are verified, the second instalment would also be credited to the woman’s account.

• For the third instalment

To claim the third instalment the woman should fill up and submit Form 1C along with the birth certificate of the child and the copy of MCP card which shows that the child has received its first round of immunization.

To claim the instalments, linking the beneficiary’s bank or post-office account with Aadhaar card is important for doing DBT of the cash benefit. If the account is not linked, the beneficiary can fill up and submit Form 2B for linking her bank account with Aadhaar or Form 2C for linking her post office savings account with Aadhaar before the cash benefits are due.

What are the Documents Required for PMMVY?

• Fully filled Application Form 1A
• MCP card copy
• Xerox of Identity Proof 
• Bank/Post Office Account Passbook’s copy
• An undertaking/consent signed by the applicant and her husband

Benefits of PMMVY

Cash incentive of Rs 5000 in three instalments, namely, Rs 1000/ – on early registration of pregnancy at an Anganwadi Centre (AWC) / approved Health facility as identified by the respective administering State / UT, Rs 2000/ – after six months of pregnancy on receiving at least one ante-natal check-up (ANC), and Rs 2000/ – after childbirth is registered and the child has received the first cycle of BCG, OPV.

The qualified recipients would receive the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) incentive for institutional delivery, and the JSY incentive would be credited to maternity benefits, such that a woman would receive Rs 6000/ – on average.