(1) These rules may be called the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Rules, 2016.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,

(a) Act means the National Food Security Act, 2013 (20 of 2013);

(b) Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana means the scheme of the Central Government made under clause (b) of Section 4 of the said Act under which maternity benefit of six thousand rupees shall be provided to pregnant women and lactating mothers who are not less than nineteen years of age for first two live births, which presently extended to fifty three pilot districts across the country.

(c) Integrated Child Development Services Scheme means the scheme of the Central Government:

(i) to improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group of 0-6 years;

(ii) to lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child;

(iii) to reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropouts;

(iv) to achieve effective co-ordination of policy and implementation among the various departments to promote child development; and

(v) to enhance the capability of the mothers to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the children through proper nutrition and health education.

(d) Mother Child Protection Card means a joint card of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare which is a comprehensive multipurpose card which provides information on utilization of health and nutrition services for children and women provided by aforesaid Ministries;

(e) section means section of the Act;

(f) words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Act shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act.

(1) Every pregnant woman and lactating mother who are not less than nineteen years of age shall be entitled to maternity benefit of not less than six thousand rupees to support their health and nutrition needs for the first two live births.

(2) The maternity benefit shall be provided under the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana of the Central Government.

The maternity benefit shall be given to the pregnant woman and lactating mother who register themselves at anganwadi centres set up under Integrated Child Development Services Scheme.

(1) The maternity benefit shall be disbursed by the concerned State Governments or Union territory Administrations to the bank or post office account of the beneficiary directly and there shall be no disbursement of maternity benefit in cash or through cheque.

(2) All transactions shall be carried out by State Governments or Union territory Administrations through the Public Financial Management System developed by the Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance.

(3) The structure existing under Integrated Child Development Services shall be used as the platform for transferring the maternity benefit to the bank or post office account of the beneficiaries.

The maternity benefit shall be provided in two equal installments of three thousand rupees each upon fulfilment of certain health and nutrition conditions, the details of which are given in (d) in the following table, namely

To provide the maternity benefit under the Act, the Central Government shall provide sixty per cent share of the total cost to general category States, ninety per cent share of the total cost to eight north-eastern States and three Himalayan States and hundred per cent to Union Territory Administrations. Detailed categorisation of States is given below

(a) The General Category States includes Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh; and West Bengal;

(b) North-Eastern States includes Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim and Himalayan States includes Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand;

(c) Union territory Administrations includes Union territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.

The Mother Child Protection Card shall be the primary verification tool for the beneficiaries to avail maternity benefit under these rules.

(1) The State Governments or Union Territory Administrations shall ensure timely release of installments of maternity benefit to beneficiaries' account upon fulfilment of conditions given in Rule 6.

(2) The State Governments or Union territory Administrations shall maintain proper records of the beneficiaries as per the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana guidelines.

The provisions of these rules shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any existing scheme implemented by the Central Government.

1. Ministry of Women and Child Development, Noti. No. G.S.R. 416(E), dated April 12, 2016, published in the Gazette of India, Extra., Part II, Section 3(i), dated 12th April, 2016, pp. 3-5, No. 263