The Centre has assured the Supreme Court that the National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS) will continue as a Centrally-sponsored scheme, along with the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY).The NMBS, launched in 1995, is aimed at providing better care to pregnant mothers of poor households by providing financial assistance of Rs 500 for first two births. The scheme was later sought to be discontinued in 2005 by replacing it with JSY. In its affidavit filed before the Bench of Justice Arijit Prasayat and S H Kapadia, the Centre said that the NMBS will continue and its coverage will be further widened by doing away with restrictions on number of children and age of the mother. Earlier, the scheme’s coverage was limited to two births for mothers of 19 years and above.The assurance from the Centre came on a petition filed by the People Union for Civil Liberties. The petitioner submitted that the objectives of the two schemes were different as NMBS was launched with a view to provide nutritional support to pregnant women and the JSY at encouraging women to have institutional deliveries. The PUCL argued that both safe delivery and nutrition are important and there cannot be a trade off between the two. Facilities must be provided to ensure that women have access to both, the PUCL demanded in its petition.
