The Indian Government
is set to command four months of paid maternity leave to women having babies
through surrogacy and to those who are adopting babies within three months of
age. “Women who legally adopt a child up
to 3 months of age will get maternity leave of 16 weeks. A commissioning mother
or women having babies through surrogacy will also get 16 weeks of paid leave
from the date of handing over of the child,” a senior Labour Ministry official
told. The idea was to allow women to take care of the child and then get back
to work in a healthy condition.
Women and
Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi had previously suggested raising
maternity leave up to eight months from three months while the Government’s
move to increase the leave up to six months is a good way to start working. Dr.
Sushila Gupta, a practicing gynecologist said this very commendable move “Six
and a half month is a good time for a woman to get started with their work
after they have delivered a baby”.
Women working
in government offices get a maternity leave of six-months, according to the
Central Civil Service Rules, 1972. Reports say that worldwide almost 100
countries provide maternity benefits to their employees for 14 to 18 weeks in
total. Keeping this in mind, All India
Democratic Women’s Association’s General Secretary Jagmati Sangwan appealed to
the government to not add any conditions to the proposed benefits. Under the
proposed amendment, any and every organization with more than 50 employees will
compulsorily provide crèche facility within their premises to encourage women’s
participation in the workforce, says a senior official from the labor ministry.
No comments:
Post a Comment