Sonia Gandhi flags lack of funds in key govt scheme in Rajya Sabha
Sonia Gandhi said the full implementation of the maternity provisions of NFSA 2013 requires an annual budget of ₹12,000 crore but the allocation shows only ₹2,521 crore
Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said the Narendra Modi government’s flagship programme for pregnant women, Pradhan Mantri Vandana Yojna (PMMVY), is “severely under-funded” and has resulted in drastic fall in entitlements to beneficiaries.
Flagging the issue in the Rajya Sabha, Gandhi said the National Food Security Act (NFSA) was passed by Parliament in 2013 under the leadership of Manmohan Singh in September 2013 and it has been the foundation for PM Gharib Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY), which was launched during Covid 19 to provide foodgrains to poor families. PMGKY currently has 81 crore beneficiaries.
She said NFSA also includes ₹6,000 per child as maternity entitlement for pregnant women in informal sector and PMMVY was launched in 2017 to fulfil this entitlement. However, she added, PMMVY provides only ₹5,000 for first child that is extended to the second child if it is a girl.
“According to one informed analysis in year 2022-23 only 68% women received at least one instalment during first birth. But the very next year, this proportion fell drastically to just around 12%. I would like to ask the Union government why this was allowed to happen,” Gandhi said.
She also questioned the absence of a separate budget for PMMVY.
“The full implementation of the maternity provisions of NFSA 2013, requires an annual budget of ₹12,000 crore. It is surprising that the budget document does not contain information on the allocations for the PMMMVY separately. All that the document reveals are that there is a programme called Samarthya in the WCD (Women and Child Development) ministry. This has five components of which PMMVY is one. The allocation in 25-26 for Samarthya is only ₹2,521 cr. This clearly shows that PMMVY is severely under-funded,” Gandhi.
This is the fourth time Gandhi has flagged key policy issues in the Rajya Sabha during the ongoing session. On March 18, she raised “concern over the dilution of employment guarantee under MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act)”.