A scheme famous for funding fertility treatment spends most of its money on something else entirely: childcare and elder care.
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Indian Society · IndSoc0077
Jiyo Parsi Scheme
₹37.43 crore, 534 births, since 2013
Sep 2013
Scheme launched
Parsi population had fallen from 1.14 lakh (1941) to 57,264, by the 2011 Census.
2018-19
Health of Community added
A second component starts funding childcare and dependent-elderly care.
Oct 2022
Parzor Foundation exits
Government ends the NGO’s role, moves to direct DBT via district collectors.
10 Aug 2026
Rajya Sabha reply
Government confirms cumulative totals: 534 births since 2014-15, ₹37.43 crore spent.
Most of the money isn’t for making babies
For three straight years (2023-24 to 2025-26), the scheme’s Health of Community component — childcare and elderly care — has drawn far more funding than Medical Assistance, the fertility-treatment component Jiyo Parsi is best known for.
Must Know
- Jiyo Parsi is a Central government scheme to arrest the declining population of India’s Parsi community.
- It was launched in September 2013, by the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
- Parsis are one of India’s 6 notified minority communities. Their population fell from 1.14 lakh in 1941, to just 57,264, by the 2011 Census.
- The scheme has 3 components: Medical Assistance, Health of Community, and Advocacy.
- Since 2013, the scheme’s total expenditure has been ₹37.43 crore. 534 births have been reported in the community since 2014-15.
Good to Know
- Medical Assistance funds infertility treatment, pregnancy, childbirth, and post-natal care, for Parsi couples earning up to ₹30 lakh a year.
- Health of Community, added in 2018-19, funds childcare and dependent-elderly care, for couples earning up to ₹15 lakh a year.
- Advocacy provides no direct financial assistance. It runs awareness campaigns, workshops, and registration drives, including regular notices in major Parsi newspapers.
- In October 2022, the government ended its partnership with the Parzor Foundation, the NGO that had run the scheme on the ground. Implementation moved to direct DBT, through district collector-led committees.
- As of 10 August 2026, cumulative Medical-component beneficiaries stand at 582. Health of Community beneficiaries, since 2018-19, stand at 1,055.
Test Yourself
Great to Know
- Recent year-wise spending shows a clear pattern. In 2025-26, Health of Community received ₹2.93 crore, against just ₹0.24 crore for Medical Assistance. This gap has held for at least three straight years.
- Independent third-party evaluations have rated the scheme as broadly meeting its own targets, according to the government’s own Rajya Sabha reply.
- 534 births over roughly a decade is a real, but modest, dent in a community of under 60,000 people. The scheme aims to slow the community’s decline, not reverse it outright.
- This data itself came from a written reply by Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, in the Rajya Sabha, on 10 August 2026. It is ordinary parliamentary oversight of an ongoing scheme, not a new policy announcement.
Current Affairs
- 10 August 2026: Union Minister of Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju disclosed the scheme’s cumulative figures in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha: 582 Medical-component beneficiaries, 1,055 Health of Community beneficiaries since 2018-19, ₹37.43 crore spent since inception, and 534 births since 2014-15. (Source: PIB)
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