Maneka Gandhi, Minister for Women and Child Development, first came up with this idea when some private companies introduced this policy in their organisations, and then she pitched for Indian career women to have 28 weeks of maternity leave (bless her!). The labour ministry seems to have mulled over it (since it’s their domain) and they fear 28 weeks of leave is so long that it may impact the woman’s career, so 26 weeks are enough (eh, what?). But the good news is that it’s definitely more than the current maternity leave of 12 weeks.
The proposal also talks of providing 12 weeks of maternity leave to commissioning mothers, who use surrogates to bear a child, as well as for working women adopting a baby. That will come as welcome news to many.
The labour ministry held a tripartite meeting with trade unions and employers for discussing the draft amendment bill to extend maternity leave benefits to natural, commissioning and adopting mothers.
“In the meeting, it was unanimously decided that maternity leave for natural mothers should be extended from the existing 12 to 26 weeks,” said a labour ministry official. The issue before the government is a complex one. While WCD ministry believes that extending leave for expecting mothers will directly benefit the new born child and positively impact nutritional levels, there are apprehensions that such long duration of leave might make a woman employee unemployable.
“It is no secret that the company will have to pay for 26 weeks of absence of a woman employee. This may work against a woman employee and be a deterrent for companies in hiring women. The government needs to weigh in the pros and cons before it takes a considered decision,” a senior official said.
Another issue put forth by the unions was that of creches. “It was almost unanimous that there will be creches. The proposal was that firms with 30 women employees or with total of 50 employees will have creches. Also there can be an option of a group of firms together opening a creche,” RSS-affiliate BMS Zonal Organisation Secretary Pawan Singh said.
There is more good news coming out of this meeting though.
“The proposal also included the point that mothers who bring their child to the creche will get 15 minutes of special leave before and after the lunch hour to take care of the child”, he added. The government has closed the tripartite discussions on both the issues, maternity leave and compensation, and will move a note for inter-ministerial consultations.
