Baby shower ceremony held for poor pregnant mothers

TRICHY: The district administration on Friday organised a 'seemantham' (baby shower) function for the less-privileged pregnant women in which the collector Jayashree Muralidharan, mayor A Jaya and the integrated child development scheme's (ICDS) project officer Tamim Munisha took part. The ceremony this year was an improvement over the first celebration of this government conducted in July last year, when 30 pregnant women were regaled with the 'valaikappu'.In all, a total of 5,000 pregnant women were covered in the seminal scheme, last year.
The function was conducted at the Kalaiarangam premises where the collector and the mayor ceremonially slipped the bangles into the wrists of 100 pregnant women.
The government doles a total of Rs 12,000 in three instalments through the period of pregnancy. This time, about 10% of women whose marriages were marred by controversies were also covered since they requested to be included in the scheme, said Munisha. The collector said it was part of ICDS's community-based programme for holistic early child development. The government spends at the rate of Rs 4,000 each thrice for taking care of the welfare of the mother and the child and to improve the overall nutrition and health status of young children.
Whip R Manoharan gave instructions to carry out period medical check-up to ensure that the mothers-to-be gave birth to their babies smoothly. Those mothers who have registered with anganwadis were also taught what to do and what not to do during the period of pregnancy. "This year, a total of 7,500 pregnant women would be covered under the ICDS in the district," added Munisha.