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Across tribal regions of Andhra Pradesh, the journey of an Adivasi woman through pregnancy is marked less by care and support, and more by malfunctioning portals, missing documents, and vanishing entitlements. These systemic failures are not isolated incidents—they reflect structural exclusion embedded in both policy design and state function, raising serious questions about constitutional guarantees of equality and dignity.
The districts of Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) and Parvathipuram Manyam, which together account for nearly 40% of the state’s tribal population, offer a clear window into how and why the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is failing Adivasi mothers. These are among the most remote, hilly, and underserved parts of the state. Our fieldwork suggests that similar challenges persist across other tribal belts in Andhra Pradesh, though their intensity may vary.
Launched in 2017 under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), PMMVY was intended to provide ₹5,000 to every pregnant woman to partially compensate for wage loss and promote maternal health. But in practice, the scheme has become a case study in systemic exclusion, particularly in regions where the need is greatest.
Stark numbers, deep gaps
The data from the ASR district is stark. According to information obtained through a Right to Information (RTI) request, in 2023–24, only 622 out of 4,210 enrolled women received payments—just 14.8%. By 2024–25, both the registrations and women paid benefits plummeted: only 133 women were paid out of 752 enrolled (17.6%). Meanwhile, in neighboring Manyam district, outcomes were relatively better, with 2,425 paid out of 4,424 (about 54.8%), but still far from universal. In 2024–25, the registrations plummeted to 403 whereas 488 people received benefits. More people than those registered received benefits because some beneficiaries from the previous year were paid this year—a sign not of success, but of system delays. These numbers exclude many eligible women who couldn’t register due to missing documents, poor connectivity, or portal failures—meaning actual exclusion is likely far worse. A field-level survey by LibTech India across 17 villages in January 2025 in G Madugula and Chintapalli mandals in ASR District showed that only 5% of the 103 eligible pregnant and lactating women had received even a single installment.
These are not mere technical glitches—they reveal a policy architecture detached from tribal realities. Many Adivasi women are malnourished, anaemic, and lack access to nutritious food. Maternal mortality remains disproportionately high. Yet, the PMMVY demands perfect documentation, Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, and mobile verification—barriers that are nearly insurmountable in digitally excluded areas.
Aadhaar-based payments have long posed challenges for Adivasis. To receive benefits, Aadhaar must be linked to both the bank account and the NPCI mapper. But this is rarely straightforward. In Chintapalli mandal, for instance, women often travel over 50 km to reach a bank branch in Narsipatnam, with no assurance of success. Overburdened rural branches and poorly trained staff—many unaware of the distinction between account linking and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) mapping—lead to frequent Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS) failures. NPCI uses a system that links Aadhaar numbers to specific bank accounts, facilitating Aadhaar-based payments.
This isn’t new. Thousands of Adivasi farmers were excluded from Rythu Bharosa, a scheme that supports cultivators to meet the investment during the crop season. According to data compiled by LibTech India, about 4.4 lakh MGNREGA workers were deleted from the rolls in tribal areas of AP after the introduction of the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS), though some deletions may have been genuine. This places an unrealistic burden on pregnant women. As of 10 November 2024, over 87,000 Adivasis in ASR district were found ineligible for ABPS due to non-compliance. This scale of exclusion underscores how Aadhaar-linked systems continue to marginalise tribal communities. Ironically, under the Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP)—a constitutional provision for targeted support—Adivasi women end up receiving less support than those in better-connected regions.
Many tribal women in Andhra Pradesh suffer from malnutrition, anaemia, and limited access to nutritious food, contributing to high maternal mortality. The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) adds barriers like Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, mobile verification, and online registration, which often exclude women in remote areas.
A January 2025 LibTech India survey found 10.7% of pregnant women lacked necessary documents, and 38% of villages in G Madugula faced network issues, hindering timely digital registration. Portal failures are common; only 4 of 17 ANMs in G Madugula could access the system, with many blocked by errors or misrouting.
Aadhaar-based payments require linking to bank accounts and NPCI mapper, forcing women to travel over 50 km to banks, often multiple times. Confused bank staff and system glitches cause payment failures.
This exclusion is systemic: Adivasi farmers missed out on Rythu Bharosa, and many MGNREGA workers lost benefits due to Aadhaar issues. According to a study conducted by LibTech India, Tribal households in ASR District often spend over ₹200 per trip—mainly on travel, food, and assistance—just to withdraw their own MGNREGA wages.
Despite PMMVY’s Tribal Sub-Plan status, tribal women remain largely excluded.
Tribal Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA)s, mostly low-educated and digitally unskilled, rarely handle registrations, shifting the burden to Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM)s who cover 25–30 remote villages each. ANMs use personal smartphones as government devices have been broken for two years, and they are rarely reimbursed for related expenses. After the TDP led coalition government dissolved village volunteers, ANMs must also manage pensions, surveys, and reporting, leaving little time for maternal health.
Adding to the absurdity is the fact that ANMs are expected to manage up to 74 different mobile applications, most of which duplicate data across departments. Yet, PHC reports are still compiled manually for district submission—defeating the point of digital workflows.
Beyond implementation challenges, the very structure of the scheme is discriminatory. PMMVY restricts benefits to first pregnancies (or a second if it’s a girl), ignoring the National Food Security Act’s (NFSA) guarantee of ₹6,000 for every pregnancy. The Government of India justifies this by saying the remaining ₹1,000 is paid through Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY). However, many tribal women miss the JSY benefit because they deliver at home. These eligibility rules exclude rather than support tribal women. With no grievance redressal, no confirmation or tracking, and a frequently malfunctioning PMMVY portal, these policies deny tribal women equal access to essential state support and their basic rights.
In tribal Andhra Pradesh, these eligibility filters act more like exclusion mechanisms. With no grievance redressal, no confirmations, and a frequently failing PMMVY portal—often showing “Invalid OTP” or crashing—the scheme denies tribal women equal access to essential state support and basic rights.
What Needs to Change
To restore the credibility of PMMVY and meet its goals, the following reforms are urgent:
Universalise eligibility to include all pregnancies, as mandated by NFSA.
Simplify documentation, removing Aadhaar-NPCI dependency.
Enable offline registration in poor network tribal villages.
Fix software issues and ensure functional logins at all PHCs.
Reinvest in human infrastructure: repair or replace devices, reimburse expenses, and reintroduce support roles like village volunteers.
Reduce app clutter by integrating platforms and minimizing duplicate data entry.
Monitor TSP compliance and ensure tribal areas receive proportionate resources and administrative support.
Encourage cash delivery of entitlements, modeled on pension disbursement mechanisms, to enhance accessibility in remote tribal regions.
Strengthen the role of Gram Sabhas in planning and monitoring PMMVY implementation, reinforcing democratic accountability in tribal areas.
PMMVY was meant to signal care and recognition to mothers. Instead, it has become a story of invisibility and neglect—especially for tribal women. Across tribal Andhra Pradesh, where less than 50% of eligible women receive payments, the failure is not just administrative; it is constitutional. Denying pregnant Adivasi women their entitlements undermines their right to life with dignity under Article 21 and deepens systemic inequality. If the state truly intends to support Adivasi mothers, it must confront these exclusions not as errors, but as violations—and act urgently to restore justice.
Karthik Reddy Panditi and Chakradhar Buddhaare affiliated with LibTech India, a center based in Collaborative Research and Dissemination (CORD). Views are personal.