BHUBANESWAR: Continuing with his spree of pre-panchayat poll sops for rural Orissa, chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday launched the ambitious Mamata Scheme, a conditional electronic cash transfer programme for benefit of pregnant women in the state.
Naveen said pregnant women registered with anganwadi centres will receive Rs 5000 in four installments under the scheme. It aims not only at reducing infant mortality and maternal rates but also help in improving the nutrition status of pregnant women and newborn babies. "The installments have been designed to ensure that a pregnant woman gets cash assistance every 3 months after her second trimester. The last installment would be given on completion of measles immunisation. This, I hope would greatly improve the total immunisation coverage of all our children," Naveen added.
More than 50,000 pregnant women received their first installment of Rs 1500 on the inaugural day, official sources said.
The state government had announced the scheme, modeled on an ongoing initiative in Tamil Nadu, some time back and registration of pregnant women commenced from September 5. "It is heartening to note that within a span of one month nearly, two lakh pregnant women have registered under this scheme," Naveen informed.
With an obvious aim to woo the rural electorate ahead of the three-tier panchayat elections scheduled early next year, the ruling BJD has of late unveiled several new schemes for improved rural healthcare, village road connectivity, education and public distribution system.
Official sources said the Mamata scheme aims to cover all pregnant women above 19 years associated with various rural projects in the state. An assistance of Rs 5000 will be given in installments to every eligible pregnant woman.
Official sources said the Mamata scheme will be the largest state-sponsored scheme after the Rs two a kg rice scheme. Nearly six lakh pregnant women will be covered every year under Mamata resulting in an annual disbursement of Rs 350 crore. For the subsidized rice scheme, the state government spends around Rs 900 crore annually.
"A unique feature of Mamata scheme is that fund transfer to beneficiaries will only be done through electronic means directly to their accounts. This is the first time direct electronic transfer of funds to beneficiary accounts through online banking has been attempted on such a largescale in the country in any social sector programme," Naveen, who interacted with beneficiaries of Ganjam, Koraput, Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj and Jajpur, among others, through video conferencing, said. "I call upon all the bankers of the State to come forward and partner Government in this revolution. This is true financial inclusion and a definite step towards financial empowerment of rural women," he added.
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