HYDERABAD: The Telangana government is mulling the idea of giving cash to pregnant women at four regular intervals.
“We are currently collecting the data on the number of pregnancies in the state. Once, the data is available the proposal will be placed before the final approval of the Chief Minister. Once, the CM gives his nod to it, the new scheme will be launched in the State in the forthcoming Budget,” sources in Medical and Health department told Express. “We are planning to give Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 in each instalment,” an official said.
“After pregnancy, most of the women will be out of work and the family’s income will reduce for one year. Then, the mothers-in-law will start harassing the daughters-in-law. Providing cash to the pregnant women will help the get good food for them and also to support the family,” an official said, explaining the reasoning behind the scheme.
The Tamil Nadu government gives pregnant women Rs 15,000 over four instalments. As Tamil Nadu launched the scheme, the Centre too sanctioned Rs 6,000 per woman.
Doling out cash to pregnant women is not a new scheme — earlier there was the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY). But, neither combined AP nor TS got funds under this scheme as the State governments did not give cash to the pregnant women.
“Tamil Nadu started receiving Central government funds from last year after it started giving cash to the pregnant women,” an official pointed out.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Centre would give Rs 6,000 cash to pregnant women. Once, the TS launches such scheme it too would get Rs 6,000 per women from Central government.
However, the cash will be given only to institutional deliveries and families who fall Below the Poverty Line (BPL), sources said. According to sources, there are currently 2.5 lakh deliveries in government hospitals. If the state government decided to give Rs 20,000 per pregnant women, the cost to the exchequer would be Rs 500 crores per year.