Matritva, Shishu Evam Balika Madad Yojana, Uttar Pradesh

What is Matritva Shishu Evam Balika Madad Yojana?

Matritva Shishu Evam Balika Madad Yojana is the maternity and child benefit of the Uttar Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, the statutory board under the state Labour Department that runs welfare schemes for registered nirman shramik; construction workers. The name translates directly: matritva is maternity, shishu is the infant, and balika is the girl child, and the scheme is built around all three.

The Uttar Pradesh BOCW Welfare Board is funded by a cess collected on construction works in the state, and it uses that fund to run an umbrella of worker welfare schemes covering education, daughters' marriage, maternity, medical treatment, disability, accident and death. Maternity assistance sits inside that umbrella. According to the board's portal at upbocw.in, every one of these benefits is available only to a worker whose registration with the board is live, and every one is paid by direct benefit transfer.

Two things follow from that, and they decide most claims:

• Board membership, not occupation, is the qualification. A woman working on a construction site who never registered with the board cannot claim, however genuine her work history.
• The registration must be live on the date of the claim. BOCW registration in Uttar Pradesh has to be renewed. A lapsed card is the most common reason a maternity claim is returned, and it is fixable: renew first, then claim.

The scheme's purpose is straightforward income protection. A woman construction worker loses her daily wage entirely around childbirth, and the household has no paid leave to fall back on. The board's maternity assistance replaces part of that loss and adds a component for a girl child, so that the birth of a daughter does not carry an economic penalty in a household living on daily wages.

Who is eligible for the maternity benefit?

You can claim if:

• You are registered with the Uttar Pradesh BOCW Welfare Board and your registration is live and renewed on the date of the claim.
• You were aged 18 to 60 at registration, which is the board's age band.
• You had completed at least 90 days of construction work in the 12 months before registration, which is the board's core entry test.
• You have given birth, and you hold the hospital delivery record and the child's birth certificate.
• You hold a bank account in your own name that is live and Aadhaar-seeded.

You cannot claim, or are not eligible, if:

• You are not registered with the board, or your registration has lapsed and has not been renewed.
• You cannot produce the 90-day work certificate the board requires from an employer, contractor, registered trade union or the gram pradhan, so the registration itself never became valid.
• You are a construction worker in a different state; each state has its own BOCW board and benefits are not portable, so claim from the board you are registered with.
• You are outside the 18 to 60 age band used for board registration.
• Your bank account is not Aadhaar-seeded, is joint, or is dormant, in which case the DBT credit will fail even after sanction.
• You have already drawn this benefit for the same delivery, or beyond the number of deliveries the board's scheme order allows. Board welfare schemes are capped, and duplicate claims are flagged against the Aadhaar number.

Workers should also note that construction labour is defined by the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, and the board's registration form lists the trades covered: mason, carpenter, bar bender, painter, plumber, electrician, helper and similar. Work outside those trades does not count towards the 90 days.

What documents are required?

Take originals plus one photocopy set to the district Labour Office even if you have applied online. The verifying officer checks the originals against the scanned uploads before the file is forwarded.

How to apply for the maternity benefit

1. Confirm your registration is live. Log in at upbocw.in with your registration number and check the validity date. If it has lapsed, complete the renewal first, a claim filed on a lapsed card is returned, not held.
2. Collect the delivery papers. Get the hospital discharge summary or delivery certificate, and register the birth so that you have the child's birth certificate. Both are mandatory and neither can be substituted with an affidavit.
3. Open the scheme application on upbocw.in. From the schemes menu select the maternity and child benefit scheme, and fill in the worker's registration number, the date of delivery, the hospital details and the child's details.
4. Enter your bank details carefully; account number and IFSC. Check the account is Aadhaar-seeded before you submit, because a seeding failure at the DBT stage sends the file back to the district for correction and adds weeks.
5. Upload the documents — registration card, Aadhaar, delivery proof, birth certificate and the bank passbook page, and submit the form. Save or print the acknowledgement number shown on screen.
6. Submit the hard copy with photocopies at the district Labour Office or to the Labour Enforcement Officer of your area, quoting the acknowledgement number.
7. Track the claim on the portal's application status page using the registration number, and follow up at the district office if the file stays at the same stage.

Workers who cannot use the portal can do the whole thing offline. The district Labour Office accepts the filled scheme form with the same document set, and the Labour Enforcement Officer or the board's field staff will forward it.

How much is paid and when?

The benefit under this scheme is paid at the rate sanctioned by the UP BOCW Welfare Board, published in the scheme list on upbocw.in. The board revises its scheme rates by resolution from time to time, and different components, maternity assistance and the additional girl-child component, carry different amounts. Confirm the current figure from the portal or the district Labour Office before applying. Figures circulating on private websites are frequently out of date, and a claim is settled at the rate in force, not the rate you read.

Payment is made by direct benefit transfer to the worker's own bank account after the district office verifies and sanctions the file. There is no cash payment, no payment through a contractor, and no payment into a third party's account.

Why maternity claims get rejected

• Registration lapsed and not renewed on the date of claim: by far the most common cause.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, or the account number or IFSC entered wrongly, so the DBT fails.
• Birth certificate not produced, or the name and date on it not matching the hospital record.
• Delivery proof missing for a home delivery where no ANM or CHC record was made.
• Ninety-day work certificate not on the registration file, which makes the underlying registration questionable.
• Duplicate claim against the same Aadhaar for the same delivery.
• Hard copy never submitted at the district office after the online form.

Most of these are curable. A returned file can be resubmitted after the defect is fixed; a rejected file usually needs a fresh application, so read the rejection reason on the portal before you refile.

Where to complain

• Uttar Pradesh Labour Department toll-free: 1800-180-5160
• Labour Department call centre: 0512-2295176
• District Labour Office of your district, which holds the file
• Jansunwai portal at jansunwai.up.nic.in for a written grievance with a trackable complaint number

Registration with the board and every scheme application, including this one, is free. If a contractor, agent or middleman asks for money to "get the maternity payment released", report it to the district Labour Office with the name and the amount demanded.

How to check your application status

Once the claim has been filed, either online or as a hard copy at the district Labour Office, the worker can track it through any of these routes.

1. Portal login. Go to upbocw.in and log in with your BOCW registration number and password (or the mobile OTP option, if enabled). Open the scheme application or "scheme status" section from the worker dashboard.
2. Enter the acknowledgement or registration number. The status page shows the file against your registration number or the acknowledgement number generated when you submitted the online form. Keep this number safe from the day you apply; the district office also asks for it when you follow up in person.
3. Read the stage shown, not just "pending." The portal typically shows the file at one of a few stages: received at the district office, under verification, sanctioned, or payment processed by DBT. If the status has not moved for several weeks, that is the point to escalate rather than wait further.
4. Follow up offline if the portal shows no movement. Visit or call the district Labour Office that holds your file, or contact the Labour Enforcement Officer of your area, quoting your registration number and acknowledgement number. Field-level staff can tell you if the file is stuck for a document defect that the portal does not display in detail.
5. Use the toll-free helpline for a status enquiry. Call the Uttar Pradesh Labour Department toll-free number 1800-180-5160, or the call centre at 0512-2295176, with your registration number ready.
6. Escalate a stalled file on Jansunwai. If the claim has been stuck at the same stage for an unreasonable time despite follow-up, file a written grievance on jansunwai.up.nic.in with the registration and acknowledgement numbers. This generates a separate trackable complaint number and puts the delay on record.

A claim that shows "returned" rather than "rejected" usually means a specific document or detail needs correction; the portal or the district office will indicate what is missing, and the same acknowledgement number can be used to resubmit once it is fixed. A claim marked "rejected" generally has to be filed afresh from the start.