Poorva Chavan
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Written By: Poorva Chavan | Updated : December 30, 2015 10:38 AM IST
India is all set to join the league of countries that offer a paid maternity leave for more than 18 weeks. The union government is set to increase the maternity leave for private sector employees from 12 weeks to 26 weeks. Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Monday informed that the Ministry of labour has agreed to extend the maternity leave to six and a half months taking into account the six months of breastfeeding that is required post childbirth. (Read: Pregnancy week-by-week guide what to expect)
The Ministry of Labour will have to amend the Maternity Benefit act which entitles women to 12-week maternity benefit. According to reports, the WCD officials will push for to extend the leave to 36 weeks or eight months for employees in both private and public sector. However, the Ministry of Labour has its reservations about further increasing the maternity leave as it believes that doing so would reduce the employability of women. (Read: Revealed 42 percent women quit their job to breastfeed)
The decision of extending the maternity leave was taken after meetings with various stakeholders. But the WCD believes that eight months of maternity leave is required and they will write to the Cabinet Secretariat regarding this issue. According to the International labour organisation, member states should make a maternity leave of at least 14 weeks mandatory but it also encourages governments to extend to at least 18 weeks. (Read: Longer maternity leaves, lesser post partum depression)
Recently, e-commerce giant Flipkart changed its maternity policy and extended the paid maternity leave to six months., Apart from this, the company also offers four months of flexible working hours, one year extended maternity leave without pay, transport reimbursement of up to Rs 600 in the last two months of pregnancy and much more.
Pregnancy is a big step in a woman's life and it is the time when they need the most support. The government's move is definitely a step ahead in helping women to strike a right work life balance.
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