Pregnant women crowd Bihar camps for CM’s dole

Thousands of expectant women would be forced by their spouses to walk to the camps to collect the booty after the Bihar CM announced a monetary award for a child born in relief camps, reports Ruchir Kumar.

When Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced that his government would offer Rs 10,000 for a male child and Rs 11,000 for a girl child born in relief camps, little did he know that thousands of expectant women would be forced by their spouses to walk to the camps to collect the booty.

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Last year, the government offered Rs 1,400 for every child delivered at primary health centres or hospitals under Janani Bal Suraksha Yojana. But the 10 times higher post-floods offer is enough for men to force women in labour to walk to relief camps. Some have even delivered en route.

Sati Devi of Itahri Gohmani village under Singheshwar block of Madhepura district was admitted to the Singheshwar primary health centre in an advanced stage of pregnancy.

When her husband Jai Krishna Yadav learnt about the offer, he decided to shift her to one of the nearby camps. But Sati Devi ended up delivering on her way to the camp on September 29.

Now, as the mother could neither reach the camp nor did she deliver the child at a primary health centre, Yadav cannot claim any money from the government. District Magistrate Atish Chandra told HT: “I have asked the local officer and the civil surgeon to decide whether any payment should be made to the woman.”