WCD to forward demand to raise maternity leave to Committee of Secys

New Delhi, January 11

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After the Labour Department approved an extension of maternity leave to six-a-half-months for women working in private sector, the Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry has decided to forward its demand for eight months leave to the Committee of Secretaries.

As most of the ministries have agreed to extend the leave to eight months, the ministry will refer the matter to the Committee of Secretaries to take a final call on the matter, a senior WCD official said.

"Since we have proposed for a longer duration (eight months), we will forward the matter to Committee of Secretaries headed by the cabinet secretary. Once they clear it, it will go the cabinet," the official said.

"We had also sent the proposal to different ministries and most of them have supported it, including Defence, Home and Finance," the official added.

The Labour Department had recently approved six and a half months of maternity leave against WCD's proposal of eight months.

"Labour Department has already approved (extension) for six-a-half-months. Let it be taken to a higher level," the official said.

The ministry headed by Union Minister Maneka Gandhi has been vouching for eight months of maternity leave in pursuance of WHO's recommendations for six months exclusive breastfeeding to infants for their healthy growth and development.

"We need to ensure minimum six months breastfeeding from the date of child birth, so you need at least that much time and it's a medically proven fact that a woman would require at least one month leave before child birth," he said.

Of the total eight months of leave, the ministry has proposed one month before child birth and seven months after that.

If the proposal gets through, it would require an amendment to the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, which presently entitles women to 12 weeks of maternity benefit whereby employers are liable to pay full wages for the period of leave.

Whereas, women employed in government jobs are entitled to six-month maternity leave as per the Central Civil Service (Leave) Rules 1972. PTI