Uttar Pradesh Matritva, Shishu Evam Balika Madad Yojana

What is Uttar Pradesh Matritva, Shishu Evam Balika Madad Yojana?

Uttar Pradesh Matritva, Shishu Evam Balika Madad Yojana is a maternity and child-birth assistance scheme run by the Uttar Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (UPBOCW) under the Labour Department. The scheme's name translates as help for maternity, the infant and the girl child, and its purpose is to give a woman working on a construction site enough money to stop work around childbirth without her family losing its income.

Construction is the largest employer of unorganised labour in Uttar Pradesh, and a woman carrying bricks does not have paid maternity leave. The Welfare Board is funded by a cess collected on construction projects under the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, and this scheme is one of the ways that cess is returned to workers.

The scheme pays more for a girl child than for a boy child: Rs 25,000 against Rs 20,000. A deliberate design choice aimed at Uttar Pradesh's sex ratio. A maternity allowance of about Rs 1,500 a month for three months is paid in addition, to cover the period around the delivery when the woman cannot work. Every payment is made by Direct Benefit Transfer into the worker's Aadhaar-seeded bank account.

Who is eligible for Matritva, Shishu Evam Balika Madad Yojana?

You can claim if:

• You are a woman construction worker registered with UPBOCW on the upbocw.in portal, holding an active labour card.
• Your registration has generally been active for at least 90 days before the claim, and has been renewed if due.
• You are 18 years of age or above.
• You are a permanent resident of Uttar Pradesh.
• The delivery is your first or second.
• You are the wife of a registered male construction worker. This route is also allowed, subject to the same two-delivery limit.

You cannot apply / are not eligible if:

• You are not registered with UPBOCW, or your labour card has lapsed because the renewal contribution was not paid.
• The delivery is your third or later child. The scheme is limited to two deliveries per worker.
• You are not a construction worker and not the spouse of one. Workers in other unorganised trades come under different boards and different schemes.
• You are below 18 years of age.
• You are not a resident of Uttar Pradesh, since the cess fund is state specific.
• The same delivery has already been claimed by the other spouse. One delivery attracts one payment.

What benefits are paid?

The birth assistance is a lump sum, credited after the birth certificate and delivery record are verified. The maternity allowance is meant to cover the weeks immediately before and after the delivery, so the mother is not forced back onto a site too soon.

This scheme sits alongside other UPBOCW welfare benefits — education assistance for workers' children, marriage assistance, medical assistance, and accident and death benefits. A registered worker should check the full scheme list on upbocw.in, because many families claim only one benefit when they qualify for several.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Matritva, Shishu Evam Balika Madad Yojana online

1. Open upbocw.in, the official portal of the Uttar Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board.
2. Check that your labour registration is active. Use the "Shramik Certificate" or registration status option and enter your registration number or Aadhaar number. If the card has lapsed, renew it first, a lapsed card makes the claim fail.
3. Log in to the Yojana Aavedan (scheme application) section with your registration number and the OTP sent to your registered mobile number.
4. Select Matritva, Shishu Evam Balika Madad Yojana from the list of Board schemes.
5. Fill in the form with the date of delivery, the sex of the child, the birth certificate number, the hospital name, whether this is your first or second delivery, and your bank account number with IFSC code.
6. Upload scanned copies of the birth certificate, the discharge summary, your Aadhaar card and the first page of your bank passbook.
7. Submit and save the application number. Print the acknowledgement.

How to apply offline

1. Visit the district Labour Office or the nearest Shram Suvidha Kendra in your tehsil.
2. Collect the Matritva, Shishu Evam Balika Madad Yojana form from the dealing clerk.
3. Fill it in and attach self-attested photocopies of the labour card, birth certificate, delivery record, Aadhaar card and bank passbook, carrying the originals for verification.
4. Submit the form and collect a stamped receipt with the diary number.
5. Verification is carried out by the Labour Enforcement Officer, after which the Board sanctions and pays.

How to check the status of your claim

1. Log in at upbocw.in and open the application under Yojana Aavedan Sthiti (scheme application status) using your registration number.
2. The status shows one of pending, verified, sanctioned or paid.
3. Call the toll-free helpline 18001805412 with your application number if the status has not moved for more than a month.
4. Check your bank passbook for the DBT credit once the status shows sanctioned. A failed credit almost always means the account is not Aadhaar-seeded.

Why claims under this scheme are rejected

• Labour card lapsed or not renewed. This is by far the most common reason. Renew the registration before you file.
• Registration less than 90 days old at the time of the claim.
• Third or later delivery, which is outside the scheme.
• Birth certificate not attached, or a birth certificate whose spelling of the mother's name does not match the labour card and Aadhaar.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT credit bounces.
• Duplicate claim where both the registered male worker and his registered wife have claimed for the same delivery.
• Claim filed very late, long after the delivery year, when the Board's records for that period have closed.

Grievance redressal and help

• UPBOCW toll-free helpline: 18001805412 for labour card and welfare scheme queries.
• District Labour Office (Shram Vibhag), the office that verifies and forwards your claim, and the correct place for an in-person escalation.
• Assistant Labour Commissioner of the region for a stalled sanction.
• jansunwai.up.nic.in for a written grievance that generates a tracking number.
• uplabour.gov.in, the Labour Department's main site, for the list of Board schemes and current contact details.

Applying for Uttar Pradesh Matritva, Shishu Evam Balika Madad Yojana is free. The only money a worker ever pays under the BOCW system is the small statutory contribution that keeps the labour card active. No thekedar, agent or cyber cafe operator is authorised to charge a commission on the Rs 25,000, and any such demand should be reported to the district Labour Office or on the helpline.