Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY)

Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) – a Conditional Maternity Benefit Scheme for Pregnant and lactating women was introduced in October 2010. The scheme aims to contribute to better enabling environment by providing cash incentives for improved health and nutrition to pregnant and nursing mothers.

The Scheme is being implemented through the platform of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme. The focal point of implementation is the Anganwadi Centre (AWC) at the village.

Objectives

To improve the health and nutrition status of pregnant & lactating women and infants by:

• Promoting appropriate practices, care and service utilisation during pregnancy, safe delivery and lactation;
• Encouraging the women to follow (optimal) IYCF practices including early and exclusive breast feeding for the first six months;
• Contributing to better enabling environment by providing cash incentives for improved health and nutrition to pregnant and lactating mothers.

Target Group

• Pregnant Women of 19 years of age and above for first two live births (benefit for still births would be as per the guidelines of scheme).
• All Government/PSUs (Central & State) employees are not entitled from the scheme as they are entitled for paid maternity leave.

Geographical Coverage

The scheme is being implemented as a pilot project. In order to ensure national coverage and diversity of implementation experiences, IGMSY would be piloted in 52 identified districts amongst all the States/UTs across the country. Out of these 52 districts, 11 each are selected from good and weak performing districts, 26 from medium performing districts and 4 are UTs. A mix of good performing, poor performing and medium performing districts have been selected to test check the success of implementation viz-a-viz. demand and supply. The districts have been selected from across the country based on six indicators which are available from DLHS-3. These were given equal weightages.

The indicators are:

1. Percent literate Female Population (Age 7+)
2. Mothers registered in the first trimester when they were pregnant with last live birth/still birth (%)
3. Mothers who had at least 3 Ante-Natal care visits during the last pregnancy (%), iv) Institutional births (%)
4. Children (12-23 months) fully immunized (BCG, 3 doses each of DPT, and Polio and Measles) (%) and
5. Children breastfed within one hour of birth (%)