A post claiming that the government is providing Rs. 36,000 per month to all pregnant women under the “Prasuti Sahaayata Yojana” is being widely shared across social media. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post through this article.
Claim: The government is providing Rs. 36,000 monthly to pregnant women under the ‘Prasuti Sahaayata Yojana’.
Fact: There is no scheme from the central government or any state government offering Rs. 36,000 monthly to pregnant women. Under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) scheme, the central government provides pregnant women up to Rs. 6,000 for two childbirths. This amount is paid in two installments. However, the website mentioned in the viral post redirects to “Shramyogi Prasuti Sahai Yojana” offered by the Gujarat Government to building and other construction workers. Under this scheme, the Gujarat Government provides financial assistance of Rs. 6,000 to the wife of a registered construction worker and assistance of Rs. 37,500 to a registered female construction worker for the first two deliveries. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search on the internet. However, we could not find any scheme from the Government of India or any state government offering Rs. 36,000 a month to pregnant women.
During this search, we found a scheme with a similar name, ‘Prasuti Sahaayata Yojana,’ which is a maternity assistance scheme provided by the Madhya Pradesh government to building and other construction workers. We then checked the official website of the labour service portal of Madhya Pradesh regarding this ‘Maternity Assistance Scheme,’ which was launched by the ‘Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) board in 2004. This scheme is exclusively for female construction workers and the wives of registered male construction workers who are registered with the board and have a valid identity card. Under this scheme, a total amount of Rs. 16,000 is given in two instalments as maternity assistance.
Subsequently, we also discovered that the central government offers financial assistance to pregnant women under the scheme “Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY).” In this scheme, pregnant women will receive up to Rs. 6,000 in two instalments. According to the guidelines of this scheme, this benefit is available to a woman for her first two living children, provided that the second child is a girl. For the first child, the amount of ₹5,000 is provided in two instalments, and for the second child, the benefit of ₹6,000 will be provided in one instalment after the birth, subject to the second child being a girl. However, for availing benefits for the second child, registration during pregnancy is mandatory.
Furthermore, we also explored the Ojas Club website mentioned in the viral post and searched for the mentioned “Prasuti Sahaayata Yojana.” Instead, we found information about the “Shramyogi Prasuti Sahai Yojana” by the Gujarat Government. To learn more about this scheme, we visited the official website of the Labour, Skill Development, and Employment Department of the Government of Gujarat. According to the information provided on this website, under a maternity support scheme (prenatal), the Gujarat Government provides financial assistance of Rs. 6,000 to the wife of a registered construction worker for the first two deliveries and assistance of Rs. 37,500 to a registered female construction worker.
To sum it up, no state or central government is providing Rs. 36,000 per month to pregnant women under any scheme.
