Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare

About:

• Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a safe motherhood intervention under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)
• With objective of reducing maternal and neo-natal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among the poor pregnant women.
• The Yojana, launched on 12th April 2005, by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, is being implemented in all states and UTs with special focus on low performing states.
• JSY is a 100 % centrally sponsored scheme and it integrates cash assistance with delivery and post-delivery care.
• The Yojana has identified ASHA, the accredited social health activist as an effective link between the Government and the poor pregnant women in l0 low performing states, namely the 8 EAG states and Assam and J&K and the remaining NE States.
• In other eligible states and UTs, wherever, AWW ((Anganwadi workers )and TBAs or ASHA  like activist has been engaged in this purpose, she can be associated with this Yojana for providing the services.

Background on JSY

About 56,000 women in India die every year due to pregnancy related complications. Similarly, every year more than 13 lakh infants die within 1year of the birth and out of these approximately 2/3rd of the infant deaths take place within the first four weeks of life. Out of these, approximately 75% of the deaths take place within a week of the birth and a majority of these occur in the first two days after birth.

In order to reduce the maternal and infant mortality, Reproductive and Child Health Programme under the National Health Mission (NHM) is being implemented to promote institutional deliveries so that skilled attendance at birth is available and women and new born can be saved from pregnancy related deaths.

Several initiatives have been launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) including Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) a key intervention that has resulted in phenomenal growth in institutional deliveries

Important Features of JSY:

• The scheme focuses on the poor pregnant woman with special dispensation for states having low institutional delivery rates namely the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan, Orissa and Jammu and Kashmir. While these states have been named as Low Performing States (LPS), the remaining states have been named as High performing States (HPS).
•  Tracking Each Pregnancy: Each beneficiary registered under this Yojana should have a JSY card along with a MCH card. ASHA/AWW/ any other identified link worker under the overall supervision of the ANM and the MO, PHC should mandatorily prepare a micro-birth plan.  This will effectively help in monitoring Antenatal Check-up, and the post delivery care.
•  Eligibility for Cash Assistance:     BPL Certification – This is required in all HPS states. However, where BPL cards have not yet been issued or have not been updated, States/UTs would formulate a simple criterion for certification of poor and needy status of the expectant mother’s family by empowering the gram pradhan or ward member.

Scale of Cash Assistance for Institutional Delivery:

Disbursement of Cash Assistance: As the cash assistance to the mother is mainly to meet the cost of delivery, it should be disbursed effectively at the institution itself.

 For pregnant women going to a public health institution for delivery, entire cash entitlement should be disbursed to her in one go, at the health institution. Considering that some women would access accrediting private institution for antenatal care, they would require some financial support to get atleast 3 ANCs including the TT injections. In such cases, atleast three-fourth (3/4) of the cash assistance under JSY should be paid to the beneficiary in one go, importantly, at the time of delivery.