Financial Incentives to Mothers Who Deliver a Girl Child (Mamta)

What is the Mamta scheme in Goa?

Mamta is the working name of Financial Incentives to Mothers Who Deliver a Girl Child, a scheme of the Directorate of Women and Child Development, Government of Goa. The Government of Goa launched the scheme with effect from 1 April 2011, and the amended scheme has been in force since 1 April 2015.

According to the Directorate's citizen charter, the scheme is aimed at improving the female child sex ratio in the state. Under the scheme an amount of Rs 10,000 is paid to every mother who delivers a live girl child in a registered medical institution, for a maximum of two deliveries.

The design is direct. Goa is a small, prosperous, highly urbanised state with near universal institutional delivery, and the sex ratio problem there is not about access to hospitals. It is about the value placed on a daughter's birth. Mamta puts a specific, unconditional Rs 10,000 against that birth, available to every household irrespective of income, and pays it into the mother's own bank account rather than the family's.

The scheme runs on the state's ICDS machinery: the mother applies through the Anganwadi Worker at the local Anganwadi Centre, and the sanctioning officer is the Child Development Project Officer at the ICDS block office in the taluka.

Who is eligible for Mamta?

You can claim Mamta if:

• You are a mother who has delivered a live girl child.
• The delivery took place in a registered medical institution.
• This is your first or second delivery. The scheme covers a maximum of two deliveries.
• You are a resident of Goa for at least three years, or you are married to a resident of Goa, and can produce a document to that effect.
• You apply within 45 days of the delivery.

The scheme carries no income test and no caste condition. The citizen charter states expressly that the scheme is available to all irrespective of their social or economic status.

You are not eligible if:

• The delivery was not in a registered medical institution. A home delivery is outside the scheme.
• The child delivered was not a live girl child.
• This is a third or subsequent delivery. The cap of two deliveries is absolute.
• You have been a resident of Goa for less than three years and are not married to a resident of Goa.
• You have already received both instalments of Rs 5,000 under the pre-2015 version of the scheme, in which case the charter states the case is treated as closed and no further incentive is payable.
• You apply after the 45-day window has closed.

How much does Mamta pay, and how?

Rs 10,000 as a one-time financial incentive on the birth of a live girl child.

The payment is made electronically. The charter names four channels, Electronic Clearing System (ECS), National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), the Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS) and Automated Clearing House (ACH), and the money is credited directly to the bank account the mother declares.

Transitional cases. The amended scheme of 2015 replaced an older two-instalment structure, and the charter sets out four positions:

What documents are required?

The birth report is often available faster than the formal birth certificate, and the charter names both, so a mother close to the 45-day limit should not wait for the certificate if the report is in hand.

How to apply for Mamta in Goa

1. Collect the prescribed form attached to the scheme from your local Anganwadi Centre. The Anganwadi Worker is the person who hands it over and helps fill it in.
2. Attach a copy of the birth report or birth certificate of the girl child.
3. Attach the document establishing residence; proof that you have been a resident of Goa for at least three years, or that you are married to a resident of Goa.
4. Enter your bank account details for the electronic credit.
5. Submit the completed form to the Child Development Project Officer through the Anganwadi Worker. The ICDS block office in your taluka is the approach route named in the citizen charter.
6. Do all of this within 45 days of the delivery. This is the single hard deadline in the scheme.
7. Keep the acknowledgement with the date of submission, which is what proves you were inside the 45-day window.

The Directorate of Women and Child Development operates through Anganwadi Centres across both districts, so no mother needs to travel to Panaji to apply.

How do I check whether my Mamta payment has been made?

Because the payment is electronic, the first check is the mother's own bank account or passbook. If nothing has arrived, the Anganwadi Worker who forwarded the form is the fastest source; she will know whether the file went to the Child Development Project Officer and on what date.

The next level is the ICDS block office in the taluka, where the Child Development Project Officer sits. The Directorate's head office on 18th June Road, Panaji, can be reached on 0832-2235308 or 0832-2426112, with a help desk on 0832-2231499 and email dir-wcd.goa@nic.in.

Why do Mamta applications get rejected?

• Applied after 45 days. This is the commonest and the least fixable reason. The window runs from the date of delivery.
• Home delivery, or delivery in an institution that is not registered.
• Third or later delivery. The two-delivery cap applies to the mother, not to the number of girl children.
• Residence document missing. A mother who has moved to Goa recently must show either three years of residence or marriage to a resident.
• Bank details wrong or in another person's name, which stops the electronic credit after sanction.
• Both old instalments already drawn, which closes the case under the amended scheme's own terms.
• Birth report not attached, leaving the delivery unverified.

Where the file is complete but the money has not arrived, the problem is almost always in the account details rather than in the sanction, and correcting the account through the Anganwadi Worker is quicker than filing afresh.

Where do I complain?

The Directorate of Women and Child Development, Old Education Department Building, 2nd Floor, 18th June Road, Panaji, Goa 403001, is the departmental authority. Phone 0832-2235308 or 0832-2426112, help desk 0832-2231499, email dir-wcd.goa@nic.in, website dwcd.goa.gov.in.

Locally, the Child Development Project Officer for your ICDS block is the officer who sanctions the incentive, and a written complaint to that office is the correct first step.

A grievance may also be registered against the department through the Government of Goa's citizen services portal at goaonline.gov.in and tracked by reference number.

Practical advice

• Start the form in the hospital. The 45-day clock begins at delivery, and the birth report is issued by the institution, collecting it before discharge saves a week.
• Open the bank account in the mother's name before the due date. Mamta is paid to the mother, and an account in the husband's or mother-in-law's name will not receive it.
• Get the residence document early if you have moved to Goa. Mamlatdar certificates take time, and 45 days is short.
• Do not assume prosperity disqualifies you. The charter is explicit that the scheme is available to all irrespective of social or economic status, and eligible mothers frequently do not apply because they assume it is a poverty scheme.
• Mothers in Goa should also check the state's Griha Aadhar scheme and the central Beti Bachao Beti Padhao programme, which the Directorate implements alongside Mamta with the same objective of improving the child sex ratio.