Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)

What is Janani Suraksha Yojana?

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a safe motherhood intervention under the National Health Mission, run by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. JSY was launched on 12 April 2005 and works by paying cash assistance to poor pregnant women who give birth in a health institution rather than at home.

According to the National Health Mission portal, JSY is a 100% centrally sponsored scheme that integrates cash assistance with delivery and post-delivery care. The scheme's purpose is to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality by shifting births out of homes and into facilities where a skilled birth attendant, emergency obstetric care and a newborn corner are available.

Key objectives

• Reduce maternal mortality and neonatal mortality.
• Promote institutional delivery among poor pregnant women.
• Connect every pregnant woman to a named community health worker for antenatal, delivery and postnatal care.

Main features

• Cash assistance to the mother, graded by state category and rural or urban residence.
• A separate performance-linked ASHA package paid to the community health worker who accompanies the woman.
• Special dispensation for ten states with historically low institutional delivery rates.
• The scheme "has identified the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) as an effective link" between the government and the pregnant woman, according to the National Health Mission portal.

How much money does JSY give?

The National Health Mission publishes the JSY entitlement as a fixed table, with separate amounts for the mother and for the ASHA:

The ASHA package is split into two performance-linked halves: in rural areas Rs 300 for the antenatal care component and Rs 300 for facilitating institutional delivery; in urban areas Rs 200 and Rs 200 respectively.

For home deliveries, JSY guidelines provide Rs 500 per delivery to BPL pregnant women who prefer to deliver at home, disbursed at the time of delivery. The National Health Mission notes that this provision exists in view of a direction of the Supreme Court, and that the ANM and ASHA are still expected to counsel the woman to deliver in a health institution.

Which states are Low Performing States?

JSY classifies Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan, Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir as Low Performing States (LPS) because of their historically low institutional delivery rates. All remaining states and union territories are High Performing States (HPS).

This classification decides two things: the amount paid, and whether the entitlement is universal or restricted to BPL, SC and ST women.

Who is eligible for Janani Suraksha Yojana?

You can apply if:

• You are a pregnant woman in a Low Performing State delivering in a government health facility - the entitlement is universal in LPS, irrespective of BPL status.
• You are a BPL, Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe pregnant woman in a High Performing State delivering in a government health facility.
• You are a BPL, SC or ST pregnant woman in either LPS or HPS delivering in an accredited private institution.
• You are a BPL pregnant woman delivering at home - the Rs 500 home delivery assistance applies in both LPS and HPS.

Your age does not matter and the number of children you already have does not matter. The conditionalities requiring the woman to be 19 years or above and limiting assistance to two live births were removed with effect from 8 May 2013 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not BPL, SC or ST and live in a High Performing State. General category non-BPL women in HPS are not eligible for JSY cash assistance for a government facility delivery, although free delivery care under Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram remains available to them.
• You deliver in a private hospital that is not accredited under JSY. Only government facilities and JSY-accredited private institutions can process the claim.
• You deliver at home and are not BPL - the Rs 500 home delivery assistance is restricted to BPL women.
• You have not registered the pregnancy with the ANM or ASHA and hold no JSY or MCP card, since the claim is processed against that registration.

What documents are required for JSY?

How to apply for Janani Suraksha Yojana

JSY has no online application. The process runs through the ASHA and the health facility.

1. Register the pregnancy with the ASHA or the ANM at your sub-centre, health and wellness centre or anganwadi, ideally within the first trimester.
2. Collect the JSY card and the Mother and Child Protection card from the ASHA or ANM; these become the record against which the claim is filed.
3. Open a bank account in the mother's own name and get it seeded with Aadhaar, since the payment is made by Direct Benefit Transfer.
4. Attend the antenatal check-ups, take iron and folic acid supplementation and the tetanus-diphtheria vaccination as advised.
5. Deliver at a government health facility or a JSY-accredited private institution. The ASHA should accompany you and arrange referral transport if needed.
6. Submit the JSY card, MCP card, Aadhaar and bank passbook at the facility. The facility staff or block accounts officer files the claim.
7. Collect the cash assistance at discharge, by cheque or by DBT into your account.

What else is a pregnant woman entitled to?

Janani Suraksha Yojana is one of several maternal health entitlements under the National Health Mission, and it is worth claiming them together:

• Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) entitles every pregnant woman delivering in a public health institution to free delivery including caesarean section, free drugs and consumables, free diagnostics, free diet, free blood, free transport from home to facility and back, and free treatment for sick newborns.
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) pays a separate maternity benefit and is claimed through a different application route.
• Referral transport under the 102 and 108 ambulance services is free for pregnant women going to and returning from a delivery facility.

Common reasons JSY payment is delayed

• No bank account in the mother's name, or the account not seeded with Aadhaar, which blocks Direct Benefit Transfer.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, the bank account and the JSY card.
• Pregnancy not registered with the ANM, leaving no record against which the facility can verify the claim.
• Delivery in a non-accredited private hospital, which cannot process a JSY claim at all.
• Missing BPL, SC or ST certificate where the entitlement in a High Performing State depends on it.

If payment has not reached your account within a few weeks of discharge, take the JSY card and discharge slip to the block medical officer or the block accounts manager, who maintains the JSY payment register.

Help and grievance redressal

• Your ASHA or ANM is the first point of contact for JSY registration and payment queries.
• Medical Officer in charge of the PHC or CHC, and the Block Programme Manager for payment disputes.
• 104 - the state health helpline available in most states for health scheme information.
• 1075 - the National Health Helpline of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• nhm.gov.in publishes the JSY guidelines and the state-wise National Health Mission contact list.

JSY assistance is free of any charge. No ASHA, facility staff member or intermediary can take a cut from the mother's entitlement, and any demand for a commission should be reported to the block medical officer.