The Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is one of the most important
programmes under the overall umbrella of National Rural Health Mission by the
Government of India and is aimed at reducing Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) and
Neo-natal Mortality Rate by promoting institutional deliveries. Under the
Scheme, cash incentives are provided to mothers and they are facilitated by
Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) (the name is different in some of
the states like Rajasthan it is known by the name Sahyogini) to deliver their
babies in a health facility. There are also provisions for cost reimbursement
for transport and incentives to ASHAs for encouraging mothers to opt for institutional
delivery. The scheme is fully sponsored by the Central Government and is implemented
in all States and Union Territories, with special focus on low-performing States
like EAG states where the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and MMR are the highest
in the country. Now after some time of
its implementation, the situations are changing. There is also a provision for
roping in the private sector by giving accreditation to willing private
hospitals/nursing homes for providing delivery services. The Scheme has been
implemented in all the nine Annual Health survey (AHS) States since 2005.
In the
recent large scale survey of AHS, in order to gauge the spread and
effectiveness of the JSY, ever married women aged 15-49 years were probed
whether they had availed the maternity financial assistance for safe motherhood
under the scheme in respect of their last two outcomes of delivery resulting in
live / still births during the reference period, i.e., 2007-09. The percentage
of mothers who availed financial assistance for delivery, percentage of mothers
who availed financial assistance for institutional delivery and percentage of mothers
who availed financial assistance for Government institutional delivery under JSY,
all in respect of the last outcome of delivery resulting in live birth / still
birth, have been calculated and presented in the recent Fact Sheet released by
Office of Registrar General, M/O Home Affairs, GOI. Since the scope of JSY has
been extended to domiciliary births also, these three sets of indicators have
presented a holistic picture.