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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Extend maternity benefits to tackle child and maternal malnutrition -Kanmani Palanisamy

-IDROnline.org

How a government scheme designed to extend maternity benefits to pregnant women in India is unequal and exclusionary.

Child stunting (low height for age) has increased in 13 states, child wasting (low weight for height) has increased in more than 12 states, number of underweight children has increased in 16 states, and children who are overweight has increased in 20 states. (All four indicators refer to children between the ages of 0-5 years.)

In 2017, a study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) revealed that 68 percent of under-five deaths in India can be attributed to child and maternal malnutrition. The most recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) also indicates that maternal and child malnutrition is on the rise.

The number of anaemic pregnant women has also drastically increased in about 16 states and union territories (UTs).

This is despite provisions made by the government through schemes such as the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and the Pradhan Mantri Matri Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), which focus on nutrition and maternity benefits. PMMVY caters to a majority of the working women population as over 90 percent of working women in India are employed in the unorganised sector, and therefore lack the kinds of benefits offered in formal employment. But budgetary allocations for this scheme have only seen a downfall. The year 2020-21 saw the worst budget cut where revised estimates for PMMVY showed a 50 percent budget cut.

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