Criticising the government's decision to remove the cap on the number of children to make maternity benefits available, the Supreme Court said such facilities cannot be indefinitely sanctioned at the cost of taxpayer's money.
"You cannot go on producing children and then make the taxpayer pay for it. It cannot go on like that. There has to be an end to it," Bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia observed.
The apex court made the observation that the tax payer cannot be made to foot the bill of those producing children indiscriminately, after the Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran, informed the court that the National Maternity Benefit Scheme of 1995 was replaced by Janani Suraksha Yojana in 2005 to remove the cap on two-child norm.
The apex court also chided the Union Government for its failure to rein in the state governments most of which are reportedly diverting the funds earmarked for the 100 per cent Centrally sponsored scheme.
Initially, under the scheme every pregnant woman of the BPL (below poverty line) and APL (above poverty line) families were entitled to a cash assistance of Rs 500 per delivery which was restricted to a maximum of two deliveries.
But under the modified proposal, the Centre said it was decided to remove the cap on two deliveries -- making the assistance available for every deliveries irrespective of the number of children a woman might deliver in the low performing (LP) states.
(Courtesy: The Indian Express; October 23, 2007)
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