How is Janani Suraksha Yojana Performing in Backward Districts of India?

Abstract

India’s record in reducing maternal mortality and infant mortality has been very dismal. Maternal deaths in India constituted more than 20% of global maternal deaths, while neonatal mortality constituted 31% of global neonatal deaths at the beginning of 2005. 1 The gravity of the situation and commitments made towards millennium development goals (MDGs) prompted the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to launch the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), a conditional cash transfer scheme which pays monetary incentive to pregnant women in case they deliver in a government medical facility or in an accredited private medical facility. This paper assesses the performance of JSY with respect to a few key parameters, in some of the most backward districts located in the “low-performing” states in India, as defi ned by the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The data for this exercise comes from People’s Assessment of Health, Education, Livelihood (PAHELI), a unique attempt to rapidly assess the status of human development, including maternal and child health. We fi nd that most of the women delivering in government facilities receive monetary incentives as per the norms, thus