Terming the move made by the Union Ministry of Labour to extend maternity leave from three to six months as “meaningless”, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Sanjay Gandhi stressed <g data-gr-id="39">on </g>the importance of “eight months for this leave being a necessity”.
The minister has advocated the emphasis on ‘eight months’ being significant as one month is required for pre-birth preparation and after the delivery, the next seven months are crucial as a newborn is breastfed during this period.
Explaining the concept, she minister told Millennium Post, “Eight months of maternity is a necessity because one month is required for a woman to prepare for the baby’s needs which <g data-gr-id="34">includes</g> taking care of his/her clothes, food and other essentials. All the best doctors <g data-gr-id="30">andgynecologists</g> have suggested that the ideal time to breastfeed a baby is the first seven months. After this period, a baby’s food can be prepared at home.”
According to reports, the Union Labour Ministry has made a proposal to extend the maternity leave, which is presently granted to working women under the Maternity Benefits Act, 1961, from three-month to six months.
“The government is not actively looking into either increasing or decreasing the maternity leave and the issue has not been pursued at all. Six months is neither here nor there (in reference to labour ministry’s move to increase the leave from three to six months). After giving birth, the first eight months period is very important for a woman to take care of the newborn. So, three or six months of maternity leave are meaningless,” said the minister.
The ministry’s eight-month proposal for maternity leave, as explained by Maneka, clearly suggested that one month leave is mandatory before the delivery and seven months post delivery – the time to breastfeed the child. The ministry of women and child development has also urged the ministry of labour that the provisions related to maternity benefit should be extended to all working women in organised and unorganised sectors. Ministry of women and child development also wants that such benefit should also be extended to those women who have opted for adoption.