Parliament Question: Schemes for Welfare of Pregnant Women

GOVERNMENTOFINDIA MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE LOK SABHA UNSTARREDQUESTION NO.3445 TO BE ANSWERED ON07.08.2026 SCHEMESFORWELFAREOFPREGNANTWOMEN 3445. SHRIMADHAVANENIRAGHUNANDAN RAO: Will the MINISTER OFHEALTHAND FAMILYWELFAREbe pleased tostate: (a) whether the Government hasintroducedor proposestointroduce anynewschemesfor the care,nutritionandwelfare of pregnant women, if so, the detailsthereof; (b) the details of the existing Central Government schemes through which financial assistance, nutritional support, healthcare and maternal benefits are being provided to pregnant women including the number of beneficiaries and funds released to Telangana during the last five years; (c) whether the Government has detected any cases of misuse, irregularities and diversion of benefits under these schemes, if so, the details thereof, including the number of cases reportedinTelangana andactionthereon;and (d) the corrective measures taken by the Government to ensure transparency, proper implementation andtimelydeliveryof benefitstoeligible pregnantwomen inTelangana? ANSWER THE MINISTER OFSTATE IN THE MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SMT.ANUPRIYAPATEL) (a) Under the National Health Mission (NHM), the Government of India implements various schemes/initiatives for the healthcare, nutrition support, and welfare of pregnant women across the country, includingTelangana, keyamongst which are asfollows:  Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) entitles all pregnant woman deliver in public health institutions to have absolutely free and no expense delivery, including caesarean section. The entitlements include free drugs, consumables, free diet during stay, free diagnostics, free transportation and free blood transfusion, if required. Similarentitlements are also inplace for sick infantsup toone year of age.  Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) provides pregnant women a fixed day, free of cost, assured and quality antenatal check up by a Specialist/Medical Officeronthe 9thdayof everymonth.ExtendedPMSMAstrategyensuresqualityantenatalcare (ANC)topregnantwomen, especially to high-risk pregnant (HRP) women and individual HRP tracking until a safe delivery is achieved by means of financial incentivization for the identified high- risk pregnant women and accompanying ASHA for extra 3 visits over and above the PMSMAvisit.  Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) provides assured, dignified, respectful and quality healthcare at no cost and zero tolerance for denial of services for every pregnant woman and newborn visiting public health facilities to end all preventable maternalandnewborn deaths.  OptimizingPostnatal Careaims to strengthen the quality of post-natal care by laying emphasis on detection of danger signs in mothers and incentivization of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) for prompt detection, referral & treatmentof such high-risk postpartum mothers.  Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is a Centrally Sponsored Maternity Benefit Scheme under which cash incentives of ₹5,000/- are provided directly to the Bank/ Post Office account of the beneficiary in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode for the first child. The eligible beneficiaries receive the remaining cash incentive, as per approved norms, towards maternity benefit under Janani Suraksha Yojana after institutional delivery, so that on an average a woman gets ₹6,000/-. Cash incentive of ₹6,000/- is also provided under PMMVY to eligible beneficiaries for the second childsubject tothe second childbeinga girl.  Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 to address the challenges of malnutrition; the Government has subsumed Anganwadi Services, Poshan Abhiyaan and the Scheme for Adolescent Girls (14–18 years in Aspirational Districts and the North-Eastern Region) under the umbrella Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0(Mission Poshan2.0). Under the Mission, Supplementary Nutrition is provided to Pregnant Women, LactatingMothers, Children (6 monthsto6years) andAdolescent Girls inaccordance with the nutrition norms prescribed under Schedule II of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. The nutrition norms were revised in January 2023 to provide a more comprehensive and balanced supplementary nutrition package based on the principles of diet diversity, quality protein, healthy fats and essential micronutrients, including Calcium, Zinc, Iron, Dietary Folate, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6 and Vitamin B12. Additional supplementary nutrition is also provided to Severely Acutely Malnourished (SAM) childrenasperthe provisions of the NFSA.  SUMAN Roadmap 2030: The SUMAN Roadmap 2030 adopts a life-cycle approach by integrating interventions across the continuum of care, covering pre-pregnancy care,antenatal care,intrapartumcare andpost-natal care.  Anemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan:The Government of India hasrecently releasedthe Anemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan –Operational guidelines during the 16th Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW) meeting on 29th June 2026 to address the high prevalence of anemia through a 7X7X7 strategy, moving ahead from the older 6X6X6 strategy of Anemia Mukt Bharat programme. The seven beneficiarygroups are low birth weight babies (0-6 months), children (6-59 months), children (5- 9 years), adolescents (10-19 years), pregnant and lactating women and women of reproductive age group (20-49 years) ina life cycle approach. (b) The details of the numberof beneficiaries, funds releasedtoTelangana during the last five yearsare placedatAnnexure I,II& III. (c) & (d) Under National Health Mission (NHM), the Government ensured transparency, proper implementation and timely delivery of benefits to eligible pregnant women across the country including Telangana by a robust, multi-layered framework that includes review of State wise key deliverables against approved target during NPCC Meetings with all States/UTs, regular assessment of performance through the Output-Outcome Monitoring Framework (OOMF). In addition, annual common review Missions (CRMs) provides independent, on-ground assessments of programme implementations, health system strengthening, andprogress on keyindicators. Popularizing the various schemes through regular Information, Education & Communication (IEC) & Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) strategies including mass media. Field level workers like ANMs, ASHAs and CHOs are promoting programmes at the ground level through interpersonal communication. Under POSHANAbhiyan, following measures are undertaken;  Implementation of the Poshan Tracker as a digital governance tool for real- time monitoringandtracking of beneficiariesandAnganwadi services.  Introduction of the Nominee Module in the Poshan Tracker to ensure uninterrupted distribution of Take-Home Ration (THR) to Pregnant Women, Lactating Mothers and Adolescent Girls when the registered beneficiary is unable tocollectthe ration personally.  Provision of smartphones to all Anganwadi Workers and other field functionaries along with annual data recharge support for effective use of the PoshanTracker application. *****Annexure referred inreplyto part(b)of Lok SabhaUnstarredQn. No3445to be answered on07.08.2026 Annexure I Year-wise Total numberof beneficiaries benefitedundertheSchemes Number of Pregnantwomen who Financial Number of beneficiaries benefited received Antenatalcare under Year underJSSK(Source-HMIS) PMSMA(Source-PMSMAPortal) 2021-22 2,43,327 2,47,983 2022-23 3,03,767 2,96,350 2023-24 2,26,002 2,66,049 2024-25 1,40,510 2,56,045 2025-26 1,35,431 2,85,838Annexurereferredinreplytopart(b)ofLokSabhaUnstarredQn.No3445 tobeanswered on07.08.2026 Annexure-II Year-wise StateProgrammeImplementation Plan (SPIP)Approvals underthe National HealthMission (NHM) for Maternal HealthinTelangana FinancialYear Budgetapproval(inLakh) 2021-22 11,847.17 2022-23 15,721.74 2023-24 15,640.91 2024-25 10,594.48 2025-26 12,019.40 Note –The above data is as per the available Financial Management Reports (FMR) submittedbythestateandisprovisionalAnnexurereferredinreplytopart(b)ofLokSabhaUnstarredQn.No3445 tobeanswered on07.08.2026 Annexure-III Year-wise fund release to the State of Telangana under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan2.0 FinancialYear Budgetapproval(inCrores) 2021-22 482.33 2022-23 550.69 2023-24 507.87 2024-25 430.76 2025-26 209.2 Source:AsperthereportfromMissionSakti,MoWCD