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Maternity Entitlements in India: Women's Rights Derailed

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  • Drèze, Jean
  • Khera, Reetika
  • Somanchi, Anmol

    (IDinsight)

Abstract

Maternity benefits of at least Rs. 6,000 per child are a legal right of all Indian women under the National Food Security Act, 2013. In practice, a large majority are still deprived of maternity benefits. A recent survey, conducted in six states of north India, brings out that pregnant women’s basic needs for nutritious food, proper rest and health care are rarely satisfied. Among women who had delivered a child during the 6 months preceding the survey, about half said that they had been eating less rather than more during pregnancy, and nearly 40 per cent complained of a lack of rest at that time. The figures are much worse in states like Uttar Pradesh, where, for instance, one third of the same women had not had a single ante-natal checkup. Average weight gain during pregnancy was just 7 kg over nine months in this sample, down to 4 kg in Uttar Pradesh. Aside from poor nutrition, lack of rest appears to be a major factor of low weight gain during pregnancy. There is an urgent need for better recognition of the special needs of pregnancy, provision of maternity benefits in accordance with the law, and better support for pregnant women including quality health care.

Suggested Citation

  • Drèze, Jean & Khera, Reetika & Somanchi, Anmol, 2021. "Maternity Entitlements in India: Women's Rights Derailed," SocArXiv v5mc6, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:v5mc6
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/v5mc6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. von Haaren, Paula & Klonner, Stefan, 2020. "Maternal cash for better child health? The impacts of India’s IGMSY/PMMVY maternity benefit scheme," Working Papers 0689, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    2. Aparna John & Nicholas Nisbett & Inka Barnett & Rasmi Avula & Purnima Menon, 2020. "Factors influencing the performance of community health workers: A qualitative study of Anganwadi Workers from Bihar, India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Ghatak, Maitreesh & Muralidharan, Karthik, 2020. "An Inclusive Growth Dividend: Reframing the Role of Income Transfers in India’s Anti-Poverty Strategy," India Policy Forum, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 16(1), pages 109-168.
    4. Diane Coffey & Payal Hathi, 2016. "Underweight and Pregnant: Designing Universal Maternity Entitlements to Improve Health," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 10(2), pages 176-190, August.
    5. Drèze, Jean & Khera, Reetika, 2017. "Recent Social Security Initiatives in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 555-572.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mathias Mkude & Zacharia Getrude, 2021. "Design of Gender-Specific Benefits in Social Security Schemes: Experience from Tanzania," Journal of Social Sciences Advancement, Science Impact Publishers, vol. 2(4), pages 130-134.

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