iGovernment
8 February, 2010
Ranchi, India

It will launch three cash incentive backed schemes–Prerna, Santushti and Chiranjeevi for the purpose
Join in the birth control initiatives and get awarded! This is going to be the new mantra of the Government of Jharkhand to put a check over the growing population and infant mortality.

In its bid to encourage young couples to adopt population control measures, the Jharkhand will soon tie up with the National Population Stabilisation Fund, widely known as Janshakhya Sthirata Kosh (JSK) to launch its three schemes–Prerna, Santushti and Chiranjeevi–on a public private partnership(PPP) mode. The schemes envisage cash awards upto Rs 19,000 to individuals, whereas institutional initiatives could fetch more than Rs 1.5 lakh.

The modalities for launching the drive in Jharkhand were discussed in a meeting between JSK’s Executive Director Amarjit Singh and Jharkhand Health Secretary DK Tiwari recently.

In pursuance of its objective to stabilise population growth, Singh participated in a workshop organised under the joint auspices of JSK and Jagran Pahel, a voluntary organisation working in the field of population control.

Fund widely known as Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh (JSK), a registered society of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry in association with the state Health Department would implement the schemes through PPP mode involving public through the health chain.

Currently, out of every 100,000 pregnant Jharkhand women, 371 die during pregnancy or childbirth. The national average is 301 per 100,000. In case of infant mortality, at least 49 children of every 1,000 live births die before turning one–month–old. The major cause of newborn deaths is infection, pre–term births and asphyxia.

Singh attributed the high incidences of infant mortality and poor health of mothers to the practice of early marriage. “These young girls give birth to children with poor chances of survival and growth,” Singh told the iGovernment.

Prerna scheme intends to push up the age of marriage of girls, delay the birth of the first child and promote birth spacing. It identifies and awards below poverty line (BPL) couples who fulfill certain parenthood criteria, which includes marriage at 19, first child after 21, spacing of 3 years between children and limiting the family after two children. Such couple can be awarded upto Rs 19,000 in the form of Kisan Vikas Patras.

Another scheme, Santushti, envisages roping in empanelled surgeons to conduct sterilisation operations (male/female) in accredited private nursing homes after receiving an advance of Rs 15,000 and an additional Rs1.5 lakh for conducting 100 cases.

To make this initiative a success, the JSK has signed MoUs with nursing homes and hospitals in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. A similar step will be taken in Jhakhand soon, Singh asserted.

The JSK Executive Director also stressed for institutional delivery as the data revealed that 81 per cent of deliveries in Jharkhand take place at home and without help of any experts, which is considered unsafe. That way, Chiranjeevi scheme could be beneficial for the expecting mothers. The scheme promotes PPP to enhance institutional deliveries.

The modalities for launching the schemes would be finalised in a couple of months in consultation with the JSK so that they could be implemented in Jharkhand in their quintessence to control the high rate of rural infant mortality (51 per 1000 lives).

He said awareness about tubectomy, which was as low as 2–3 per cent in some districts of the states, should be increased.