Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)

JSY is a safe motherhood intervention under the National Health Mission (NHM). Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) acts as an effective link between the government and pregnant women and are incentivised under this programme. All BPL/Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe (SC/ST) women delivering in a Government Health Centre, such as SC/PHC/CHC/FRU/general wards of district or State Hospital.

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a safe motherhood intervention under the National Rural Health Mission (NHM). It is being implemented with the objective of reducing maternal and infant mortality by promoting institutional delivery among pregnant women. The scheme is under implementation in all states and Union Territories (UTs), with a special focus on Low Performing States (LPS).
Janani Suraksha Yojana was launched in April 2005 by modifying the National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS). The NMBS came into effect in August 1995 as one of the components of the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP). The scheme was transferred from the Ministry of Rural Development to the Department of Health & Family Welfare during the year 2001-02. The NMBS provides for financial assistance of Rs. 500/- per birth up to two live births to the pregnant women who have attained 19 years of age and belong to the below poverty line (BPL) households. When JSY was launched the financial assistance of Rs. 500/- , which was available uniformly throughout the country to BPL pregnant women under NMBS, was replaced by graded scale of assistance based on the categorization of States as well as whether beneficiary was from rural/urban area. States were classified into Low Performing States and High Performing States on the basis of institutional delivery rate i.e. states having institutional delivery 25% or less were termed as Low Performing States (LPS) and those which have institutional delivery rate more than 25% were classified as High Performing States (HPS). Accordingly, eight erstwhile EAG states namely Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Odisha and the states of Assam & Jammu & Kashmir were classified as Low Performing States. The remaining States were grouped into High Performing States.

Beneficiary:

All pregnant women belonging to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) households and ST category.

Benefits:

All pregnant women belonging to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) households and ST category. Under the JSY, eligible pregnant women are entitled for cash assistance irrespective of the age of mother and number of children for giving birth in a government or accredited private health facility.