Maternity Benefit Programme

Maternity Benefit Programme (MBP) Scheme in Kerala Apply

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Maternity Benefit Programme (MBP) Scheme in Kerala Financial Assistance Pregnant Women Eligibility Criteria Documents Application Form Process Online (മാതൃസ്ഥാപന ആനുകൂല്യ പരിപാടി (എം പി പി) ) 2018-19

Women, who belong to the poor strata, have to work to meet the financial requirements of the family. The situation does not change much even when they are pregnant. To offer some respite to such candidates and ensure nutritional food intake, Kerala State Government has implemented Maternity Benefit Programme. Another name of this scheme is Conditional Maternity Benefit Programme, It will include pregnant as well as nursing mothers.

Maternity Benefit Programme

Launch details

It has been officially launched by the State Social Justice Department. As it is an elaborate scheme, the responsibility of its implementation has been placed in the hands of Integrated Child Development Services. It is a revised version of the Kerala Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.

Main benefit of the scheme

Many new born children suffer from issues like malnutrition, wasting and stunting. The best way to solve this issue is by offering good and nutritious food. But this requires adequate money. The state will offer money starting from pregnancy till the new born gets all necessary vaccinations.

Key features of the scheme

  1. Betterment of health – The Kerala state government has been implementing several health related schemes. This scheme will insure that pregnant and lactating mothers get adequate financial assistance to attain nourishment.
  2. Financial assistance – As per the draft of the scheme, each eligible candidate will be able to attain a financial assistance of Rs. 5000.
  3. Payment in installments – The state sponsored financial assistance will be offered in three different installments, spanning the pregnancy and after child birth period.
  4. Bank or post office account – There will be no manual transfer of cash. Each applicant needs to have an active bank account or an account in the post office.
  5. Additional leave – It has also been mentioned that all nurturing mothers will receive maternity leave for 26 weeks. Earlier it was only 12 weeks.
  6. For pregnant as well as lactating mothers – While most pregnancy schemes only offer assistance to expecting women, this project has been designed to help lactating women as well.
  7. Total number of beneficiaries – As per the research, after the implementation of this project, the state will be able to offer financial assistance to around 1.42 lakh pregnant women.
  8. State sponsored scheme – All the financial assistance, necessary for the implementation of the scheme will be taken care of by the state government.

Installment details of payment

1st Installment – Each eligible candidate will get the first installment of Rs. 1000 only if the woman registers about her pregnancy during the early months.

2nd Installment – The second installment will consist of a payment of Rs. 2000. This money will be dispatched in the beneficiary account when she submits one Antenatal diagnosis report at the end of six months.

3rd Installment – During the third installment, the lactating women will get Rs. 2000 in their bank accounts, when they submit the reports that the newborn has received all necessary vaccinations, like BCG, DPT, OPV and Hepatitis-B.

Budgetary allocation for the scheme

As the state wants to extend a helping hand to as many pregnant women as possible, it has allocated a whopping sum of Rs. 34.34 crore.

During the launch of the Kerala Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, it was decided that the central and the state governments will share the expenditure of the scheme. The central government was responsible for paying 60% of the cost while the state was to take care of 40% of the total expenditure. The scheme was implemented to offer mothers enough time to take rest after delivery. The financial payment was meant to recompense salary loss for working mothers.

It is schemes like these, which not only secure the health and wellbeing of pregnant women, but also ensure that the future generation will be healthy. If these new born babies get a solid foundation, then they will be able to play a pivotal role in the development of the state in days to come.

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