‘Mamata’ scheme role model for the country : Naveen

OST Bureau

Bhubaneswar, Oct 2:

The Planning Commission of India and the Union ministry of women and child development have considered the Mamata, a flagship welfare scheme of the Odisha government, as a model in the country.

This was announced by chief minister Naveen Patnaik while gracing the state level Mamata Utsav to mark the completion of two years of the scheme here on Tuesday.

The Utsav would be organised in all the blocks of the state starting from October 2 on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti and would be completed within a month.

Various activities including Mamata jingles, display of a documentary, baby show, handing over of letters from chief minister to ASHA, Anaganwadi workers and select husbands of the new beneficiaries would be organized during the Utsav.

The scheme has the provision for partial wage compensation for pregnant and lactating women for the first two live births, except government and public sector employees.

The beneficiary receives a total incentive of Rs 5,000 in four installments subject to fulfillment of certain conditions.

Patnaik said the one million Mamata campaign to be held in all block headquarters covering one million mothers would be attended by all the ministers and MLAs.

Expressing satisfaction that as many as 10 lakh women have availed the scheme benefits in two years’ time, he asked the Women and Child Development authorities to ensure that not a single eligible mother is left out of the scheme.

Asserting that Mamata scheme is the most successful Cash Transfer Scheme exclusively for women done by the state government, Patnaik said during the period an amount of Rs 376 crore had been disbursed directly to the bank accounts of the women across the state through e-transfer.

The scheme has ensured 10 lakh young women to have operational bank accounts in their names throughout the state, he said.

Claiming that the scheme will have a profound impact on reduction of infant and maternal mortalities and improvement of health indices among women, the chief minister said empowerment of women will have a greater accelerated impact on all socio economic and health indicators.