Janani Suraksha Yojana - History, Vision, Objectives, Features, Eligibility, Target Groups & Benefits

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), instituted in the year 2005 under the National Health Mission (NHM), is a program sponsored by the central government. The scheme aims to lessen maternal and neonatal death by promoting institutional birth among pregnant women who are underprivileged. The JSY scheme modified the National Maternity Benefit Scheme and has been enforced in all States and Union territories of the country with emphasis on low-performing states.

In this article, let us look at Janani Suraksha Yojana UPSC, its features, and Janani Suraksha Yojana objectives as required for the UPSC Examination. This topic is important from the context of the Government Schemes section. The section is a part of the UPSC mains GS 2 paper and UPSC Prelims syllabus.

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What is Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)?

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a safe motherhood campaign under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). It aims to reduce maternal and infant mortality by promoting institutional delivery among pregnant women from poor households.

• Janani Suraksha Yojana was launched in 2005 by the Hon. Prime Minister. It is implemented in all states and UTs, with a focus on low-performing states.
• The scheme provides cash assistance to pregnant women who are below the poverty line (BPL) and have reached the age of 19 for up to two live births.
• The amount of cash assistance varies depending on the state and the beneficiary's location.
• In addition to cash assistance, JSY also provides prenatal and postpartum care.
• The scheme has been recognized as an effective way to reduce maternal and infant mortality. It has helped to increase the institutional delivery rate in India.

History of Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)

The Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a safe motherhood intervention under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). It was launched in April 2005 to promote institutional delivery among pregnant women. The scheme is being implemented with the aim of reducing maternal and infant mortality. This is achieved by promoting institutional delivery among pregnant women.

The JSY is a centrally sponsored scheme. The central government provides 60% of the funding. The state government provides the remaining 40%. The scheme is implemented through the public health system.

The JSY has been successful in increasing the number of institutional deliveries in India. In 2004-05, the institutional delivery rate in India was 65.5%. This increased to 79.9% in 2015-16. The JSY has also contributed to a reduction in maternal and infant mortality rates in India.

Vision of Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)

The vision of the JSY is to provide free, safe, and quality institutional delivery services to all pregnant women in India. The scheme aims to achieve this by:

• Increasing the number of pregnant women who deliver their babies in health institutions.
• Reducing maternal and infant mortality rates.
• Improving the quality of maternal and child health services.

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Features of Janani Suraksha Yojana

Some of the salient features of the Janani Suraksha Yojana include the following:

• The Janani Suraksha Yojana’s healthcare amenities are available throughout India. States are divided into two groups, viz. Low Performing States (LPSs) and High Performing States (HPSs). Based on the institutional delivery rate, this categorization is made.
• The progress of the states in the health sector is taken into account when implementing the JSY scheme. Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan, Orissa, and Jammu and Kashmir are the 10 states with the lowest performance levels. High-performing states include other states.
• Eight former EAG states, namely Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Odisha, and the states of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir have consequently been categorized as the Low Performing States.
• No restrictions exist regarding the mother’s age, the number of children, or the type of facility, such as a public or authorized private health facility.
• Only pregnant women from BPL/SC/ST households are eligible for the JSY compensation in the High Performing States (HPS), wherein institutional delivery rates are adequate. Additionally, the program offers rewards to ASHAs depending on performance.
• The program has partnerships with private hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics to ensure that healthcare services are offered to clients even in locations without the necessary infrastructure.
• As 7% of funds are released to the state and a total of 4% to the district authorities, there is also a provision to cover administrative costs. This fund is then used to pay for administrative costs associated with putting the Janani Suraksha Yojana into practice.
• The program’s beneficiaries must register with the medical staff at the sub-center, Anganwadi, or primary health centers.

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Janani Suraksha Yojana Objectives 

The Indian government has launched the Janani Suraksha Yojana under the National Health Mission with the below-mentioned objectives:

• To encourage institutional delivery among expectant mothers, particularly those with low socioeconomic levels, such as those from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and BPL families.
• This program aims to lower maternal and newborn mortality by making institutional deliveries affordable and available to India’s underprivileged expectant mothers.

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Eligibility for Janani Suraksha Yojana

Irrespective of the expectant mother’s age, the number of previous births, or the health care facility being a government or an accredited private one, the benefits of the JSY scheme are provided.

Eligibility for Cash Assistance under the JSY Scheme
Category of States	Eligibility
Low Performing States (LPS)	Pregnant women giving birth in a government health facility, including a subcenter, a primary care clinic, a community health center, a first referral unit, or a common ward of a state or district hospital.
High Performing States (HPS)	Expectant mothers belonging to BPL/SC/ST communities who give birth in government health facilities like the SC/PHC/CHC/General wards of district and state hospitals.
Low Performing and the High Performing States (LPS & HPS)	Pregnant women from BPL, SC, or ST communities giving birth in certified private healthcare facilities.

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Target Groups of Janani Suraksha Yojana

The JSY is available to all pregnant women in India, irrespective of their income or social status. The scheme is particularly targeted at pregnant women who are 19 years or above from vulnerable groups, such as:

• Women from low-income households
• Women from rural areas
• Women from tribal communities
• Women with disabilities

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Benefits of Janani Suraksha Yojana 

The Janani Suraksha Yojana serves the following advantages:

• Pregnant women can avail the benefit of three antenatal visits and institutional delivery under the JSY program. Institutional delivery is connected with the payment of enhanced benefits and cash support.
• ASHA-compliant workers also receive incentives. The program trains a number of traditional birth attendants referred to as “Dai.” The delivery care systems then incorporate these workers.
• Professional help is offered for C-section births. The government provides financial support of up to 1,500 per expectant mother to employ a private expert to execute the Cesarean delivery in a healthcare facility in the absence of such government-employed medical professionals.
• In accordance with the family welfare scheme, the beneficiary gets compensated if a tubectomy or laparoscopic procedure is suggested.
• Every auxiliary nurse, midwife, or any other health worker is given a sum of 5,000 as part of the Janani Suraksha Yojana scheme, subject to a few terms and limitations.

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Cash Assistance for Institutional Delivery

The table below gives the cash assistance provided to expectant mothers and ASHA volunteers in rural areas under the Janani Suraksha Yojana scheme.

The table below gives the cash assistance provided to expectant mothers and ASHA volunteers in urban areas under the Janani Suraksha Yojana scheme.

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Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK)

In order to minimize out-of-pocket costs for expectant mothers giving birth in public health facilities and ailing newborns seeking treatment there, the GOI implemented Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) in June 2011. More than 1 crore expectant mothers who visit public health facilities annually in both urban and rural areas are expected to benefit from the campaign.

The main goals of this government program are:

• It guarantees that expectant mothers can avail cashless public healthcare facilities by contributing to their normal deliveries and Cesarean procedures in addition to paying for the costs of newborns with illnesses.
• This plan offers the necessary nutrition for three days following a normal delivery. It also offers a diet for up to 7 days at the same time. This guarantees the mother’s and the newborn’s optimal health.
• This favors delivery in institutions over those at homes. This guarantees that both mother and infant will receive the greatest medical care and lead healthy lives in the future.

Entitlements for Pregnant Women and Sick Infants under JSSK

The expectant mothers and ailing infants are eligible for the following benefits under the JSSK scheme.

Entitlements for Pregnant Women are listed below.

• Caesarean section and delivery are free.
• Free medicines and supplies.
• Free Crucial Diagnostic Tools (Urine tests and Ultrasonography, etc.)
• Free meals when residing in medical facilities (up to 3 days and 7 days for normal and cesarean sections, respectively).
• Free transportation to medical facilities from home.
• If referred, free transportation between facilities.”
• Exemption from user fees of all types.

Entitlements for Sick infants up to one year after birth are listed below.

• Free and no-cost medical care
• Free medicines and supplies
• No-cost diagnostics
• Free transportation to medical facilities from home and between facilities.
• The drop-off from institutions to homes is free from paying any user fees.

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Way Forward

The Planning Commission of the Indian government observed that the main reasons why maternal and child morbidity and death have not decreased significantly over the past forty years are both the absence of diagnostic testing of expectant women for risk factors and the absence of proper referral.

• The experts from the Population Council discovered that there is still considerable work to be done in order to reduce maternal fatalities. In order to support the government’s initiative to deliver crucial and urgent maternity-related care, the researchers developed a three-pronged approach:
  • Firstly, auxiliary nurse midwives should be trained in primary care as well as life-saving techniques that emphasize identifying complications and referring to women who are at high risk of complications for delivery in a facility.
  • To maximize the number of women who seek antenatal care, as well as to urge women and their households to enlist the assistance of skilled attendants at deliveries, substantial work with communities must be undertaken. Communities must also be made aware of the issues that can occur when professional attendants are not accessible.
  • Healthcare professionals must utilize the antenatal appointments of women as a critical point of interaction between pregnant women and health services. Women might learn about risk signs and hygiene procedures during these appointments.

Key Takeaways for UPSC Aspirants The overall objective of the JSY is to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality by promoting institutional deliveries among poor pregnant women. The scheme primarily targets pregnant women belonging to below poverty line (BPL) households, Scheduled Castes (SC), and Scheduled Tribes (ST) communities. JSY offers cash incentives to pregnant women to meet delivery and post-delivery costs, thereby promoting institutional deliveries rather than home births. The JSY is a 100% centrally sponsored scheme implemented through State Governments and Union Territories. ASHAs play a very central role in facilitating access to the scheme. Different cash benefits have been provided for rural and urban areas. The incentives have been higher for high-focus states that have a lower institutional delivery rate and poorer health indicators. High-focus states include Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and others. These states are given special attention and higher allocations because of their higher maternal and infant mortality rates. JSY has increased the rate of institutional deliveries across states. This has reduced the maternal and infant mortality rates. Although the JSY programme is successful, it still faces several challenges. These include delayed payments, uneven infrastructure at the facilities, and two awareness gaps. Continuity, therefore, remains in tracking, disbursement of on-time payments, and infrastructural development.

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