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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | SC ‘doubtful’ of sops to women pregnant from child marriages by Krishnadas Rajagopal

SC ‘doubtful’ of sops to women pregnant from child marriages by Krishnadas Rajagopal

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published Published on Jul 23, 2011   modified Modified on Jul 23, 2011
The Supreme Court on Friday appeared doubtful about pressing the government to give cash “incentives” under a centrally sponsored scheme to poor women pregnant from child marriages, saying this may be seen as “encouraging” the social crime. “If Government of India gives incentives, will it not mean that it is encouraging child marriages.... We cannot give approval to child marriages,” a Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma observed.

The observation came after senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for NGO, PUCL, raised objections to how the Janani Surakha Yojana (JSY), a safe motherhood intervention scheme under the National Rural Health Mission which covers pregnant women belonging to households below the poverty line, restricts cash assistance to only women aged above 19.

Cash aid under the scheme ranges from Rs 1,400 to Rs 600 depending on rural and urban areas.

Gonsalves, however, objected to the query from the court, saying, “It does not matter whether it was child marriage or not. A child cannot be penalised just because it was borne out of a child marriage. There is no food in the womb, that’s the simple fact.”

Reconsidering its observation, the bench then asked Gonsalves to address detailed arguments on the issue.

In November 2007, the Supreme Court in an order by a bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat, which was then hearing the case, had directed the government “that an amount of Rs 500 per birth is irrespective of the number of children and the age of the women”.

The JSY scheme, launched in 2003, is implemented with an objective to reduce maternal and neo-natal mortality by promoting institutional delivery. It integrates help in the form of cash with antenatal care during pregnancy period, institutional care during delivery as well as post-partum care.

Gonsalves also found fault with how the scheme limits ante-natal and post-natal cash assistance to just “two live births” in low performing states. “Does this mean that the third child will not get food?” he countered the government’s rationale in the scheme.

Thirdly, the court wants to hear detailed arguments on how the scheme, in high performing states, covers a birth in a BPL family only if the delivery was in a government or accredited private health institution. “This means that there is no cash assistance to BPL families who opt for home deliveries,” he said.

Responding to the submissions, the court said that there should not be any difference in maternity benefits under the scheme whether the child is born at home or hospital. Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran said the JSY scheme follows the National Maternity Benefit Scheme, and was modified to specify the cut-off age of women eligible and the number of births covered for benefits.

The Indian Express, 23 July, 2011, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/SC--doubtful--of-sops-to-women-pregnant-from-child-marriages/821151/


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