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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Cash if couple delay first child-Ananya Sengupta

This is for you, newly-weds. If you delay that little parcel of joy by over two years, another parcel is yours.

A crisp parcel of notes.

According to a scheme to be launched under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the government will reward newly-weds with a cash prize of Rs 500 if they don’t have children in the first two years of their marriage.

That’s not all.

If they want, a couple can double the prize if they wait three more years for their second baby.

The scheme is part of a campaign to raise awareness in villages about the effects of having kids early. The move comes at a time a recent report by Unicef said more than 40 per cent of child marriages in the world still occurred in India, while 22 per cent of girls married off became mothers before they turned 18.

“The scheme can be a success as cash incentives are a big draw for the poor,” said Preetam Prasun, programme officer, Population Foundation India, who works in Katihar, Bihar.

“Previously, when the government introduced a cash incentive for pregnant women to deliver in a hospital, it worked wonders. Many women went to health centres to deliver. But the concern, as always, is the reach of awareness campaigns.”

The NDA government, too, had launched a cash incentive under a scheme, though that was aimed at ending gender discrimination. Under the safe motherhood scheme, called Janani Suraksha Yojana, women who gave birth to a daughter were offered Rs 1,000.

The incentive scheme for delayed conception will be launched in 18 states, including Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, with a budget of about Rs 3,782 crore, which is still under consideration. Bengal is not on the list.

Trained women community health activists called Ashas, who work under the NRHM scheme that covers certified below-poverty-line cardholders, will fan out in villages to make people aware of the benefits of delayed conception.

Some activists, however, said the cash incentive would be effective only if health workers were able to break age-old customs. “One must remember that newly-weds in India are under immense pressure from their families to conceive as soon as possible. It’s kind of a tradition, so the campaigns need to educate people about health and economic issues that arise out of early childbirth,” Prasun said.

“They should be made to realise that having a child early or marrying young can have adverse effects on both the child and the mother. In the long run, it’s the health of the overall family, both financially and medically, that gets affected by conceiving early. That is the message that should go down to the people.”

Under the scheme, the health workers, too, will get Rs 500 for every newly married couple they can convince about the benefits of delayed conception.