Feel Good Scheme before Polls
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: June 25, 2013 -
Taking a step forward from the existing Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY), which is a flagship programme of Government of India under the Ministry of Women and Child Development targeting pregnant and lactating women of 19 years of age and above for first two live births, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday (June 22, 2013) announced a new and upgraded scheme for pregnant women in the country under which they will get expenses for treatment, diagnosis, transport and food at least six months before delivery date apart from covering the new born against all diseases for one year.
Under IGMSY, which was introduced in 2010, a pregnant woman is given the benefits at the time of delivery. But as per the upgraded scheme, married women will get the benefit immediately after conceiving till the time of delivery.
This could be indeed hailed as a revolutionary step towards ensuring the health of pregnant and lactating mothers as well as their new born babies.
However, just as IGMSY is being implemented initially on pilot basis in 53 selected districts across the country including Tamenglong district of Manipur, the new scheme would also see the light of the day as a pilot project in some selected districts first before its benefit could be enjoyed by other deserving beneficiaries in other parts of the country.
However, instead of getting a big thumbs-up, the announcement of the new scheme by the Union Health Minister has drawn more flaks than any appreciation, mainly because of its timing. Most critics have snubbed it as a feel-good vote-oriented scheme announced by the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre with an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha election due next year.
Some other critics have even proposed that announcement of such vote-oriented schemes within at least 2 years of any elections should not be allowed and banned altogether as the poor voters who were given just a little help in the guise some welfare schemes during pre-election era would inevitably end up being forced to pay a greater price after the election through imposition of additional taxes on everything possible, apart from fueling wide spread corruption in the implementation of these schemes.
So, instead of giving such monetary aid, the Government should create an environment wherein the people could support themselves through their own efforts.
There are definitely some merits in the argument of these critics which the people could not afford to brush aside. Here, we would like to add just one more point to complete the argument: what is even more important than announcing any new scheme by the Government, whether before or after the elections, is ensuring that the benefit of the schemes announced earlier reaches out to the people for whom they meant for.
That would save the trouble of even wooing the voters during any elections, surely.
By the way, can anyone tell us how many pregnant women have been actually benefited from IGMSY, which was launched with great fanfare in Tamenglong district in November 2011?
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