Peren highlights maternity benefit project

Dimapur, April 23 (EMN): A seminar to highlight the maternity benefit programme Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) was conducted on April 18 at Athibung town in Peren district. The event was organized by department of Social Welfare, a press release from the PMMVY stated on Tuesday. Keyizieteing Ndang, district coordinator of the PMMVY cell for Peren, gave the keynote address. He said that the scheme was a conditional maternity benefit scheme being implemented using the platform of Anganwadi workers—rural child health center workers—as it is the centre-point to connect with beneficiaries at the grassroots. The scheme is designed to provide partial compensation for wage loss during pregnancy and after delivery, the press release stated. ‘The scheme seeks to encourage pregnant women and lactating mothers to seek an improved health and nutrition behaviour; it does not pay beneficiaries with physical cash but the beneficiaries will receive payments through direct benefit transfer into their bank accounts that is specified by them in their application forms,’ he said. Ndang clarified that the scheme was eligible only for beneficiaries who are not in regular employment with the central or state government or any other public sector that provides maternity benefits during pregnancy. Further, he explained, if the husband is a government employee and the wife is a homemaker or a private sector employee not receiving any kind of maternity benefit during her pregnancy and child birth period, she is eligible to claim benefits. Altogether 27 Anganwadi workers from various villages in the Athibung area attended the programme, the updates stated. During the discussion hour, Anganwadi workers raised queries about how many beneficiaries can avail the benefits from different villages, and the problems to claim, the updates stated. The reason they were stated to have given was that they do not have bank accounts and Aadhaar cards. They are also said to have complained about the long process the banks take in creating bank accounts. Further, transportation becomes a problem for some villagers when it comes to travelling to Jalukie town as there are no proper banking facilities available at Athibung, the press release stated. Travelling to the bank costs them more than the benefits they will receive from the scheme, the updates stated.