Tamil Nadu govt extends maternity leave for government staff to 9 months
Increasing maternity leave was a promise that the AIADMK made to the people in the run up to the Assembly elections.
Chennai: In line with an announcement made by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in the Assembly, the Tamil Nadu Government on Monday issued an order extending maternity for women government employees from the present six months to
nine.
The Government Order (GO) dated November 7, 2016, says the new policy will be applicable to all married women government servants with less than two surviving children.
Ms Jayalalithaa had on September one announced in the Assembly that her government would increase the maternity leave from the existing 180 days to 270 days for the benefit of working women. It was the AIADMK government under Ms Jayalalithaa in 2011 that increased the maternity leave from 90 days to 180 days.
Increasing the maternity leave was an election promise that the AIADMK made to the people in the run up to the May 16 Assembly elections. “The Government, after careful consideration, based on the announcement made in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly by the Hon'ble Chief Minister on 01.09.2016, under rule 110 of the Legislative Assembly Rules order that the maternity leave admissible to married women government servants with less than two surviving children, which is 6 months (180 days) at present, be enhanced to 9 months (270 days),” the GO read.
The maternity leave might be spread over from the “pre-confinement rest to post-confinement recuperation, at the option of the women Government servant, the order said, adding that those under maternity leave at present are also eligible for 270 days of leave.
Though the order was restricted only to government employees, women working in the private sector were also elated about the decision. Harshitha Prasad an IT employee said multitasking after delivery is a tough task for any woman. “The extension of the leave would not just relieve the mother about the financial tensions, but also her worries about nursing the infant,” she said.
B.N. Padmaja Priyadarshini, an entrepreneur, said extending the maternity leave is good for both mothers and infants as the babies start their activities mostly after six months. “If that initial term is spent with the baby, the bondage between the mother and infant would develop grow well,” she said.