While women, in general, have hailed an increase in the paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks, small and medium-sized companies are not so happy about it.
The passage of the Maternity Benefits (Amendment Bill) in the Lok Sabha sparked a lot of reaction from people across sections. The most talked about provision of this Act is the raising of the period of paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks, placing India among the countries with the highest maternity benefits in the world. The Maternity Benefit Act protects the employment of women during the time of her maternity and entitles her of full paid absence from work.
It is estimated that around 1.8 million women who work in the organised sector will benefit from this amendment.Maternity leave allows the mother to recuperate, bond with her child, provide the requisite care to him and breastfeed him for the recommended six months.
“Maternity leave is very important for the health of the new-born baby because it enables the working woman to exclusively breast-feed her child for six months after birth, which is also recommended by the World Health Organization.
This period also enables the working mother to recuperate herself before she returns to work as well as bond with the child,” says Maneka Gandhi, Union minister for Women and Child development.
The amendment to the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 will be applicable to all establishments employing 10 or more persons.
Various amendments in the Act
The number of Maternity leave is increased from 12 to 26 weeks for the birth of first two children. Third child onwards the leave period will be 12 weeks.
However, the benefit will not be provided before eight weeks from the date of expected delivery. Earlier it was six weeks before delivery.
In case of adoption of a child below the age of three months, the mother will be entitled to maternity benefit for a period of twelve weeks, starting from the day of adoption.
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