Sukhmani Kooner, Pune
Sikkim government on Wednesday announced one-year maternity leave and one-month paternity leave for its employee’s welfare.
CM Prem Singh Tamang, during the annual general meeting of the Sikkim State Civil Service Officer’s Association, said that officers are the pillars of the state administration and that their benefit will bring overall development to the state.
According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (July 2021- June 2022) on women’s employment shows, 29.4% of women aged between 15-59 were part of India’s labor force in 2021-22. Sikkim has a population of 6.32 lakhs and a female population of nearly 3 lakhs.
Under the Maternity Benefit Act of 1961, a woman working for a minimum of 120 days was granted the provision of a maternity leave benefit scheme, however, with the 2017 amendment, the minimum period to avail the benefit was reduced to 80 days.
The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act of 2017 increased the paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for women working in the private as well as government sectors.
India also has provisions for paternity leave but they are not as exhaustive as the laws on maternity leave. Before The Paternity Benefit Act of 2017, India did not have any legislation around paternity leaves.
This act came into effect on September 1, 2017, under which, 15 days of leave would be granted to employees working in the organised sector however, no specific guidelines were given as to if the leave would be paid. That was left on the employer’s policies.
With the advent of this announcement, the government is focusing on individual growth, and by supporting working parents, they are aiming to better maternal and child health along with aiming to increase workforce participation and higher morale.