Lok Sabha Debates
Need To Amend The Existing Maternity Benefit Act To Ensure Equal Opportunity To ... on 1 December, 2021
Seventeenth Loksabha an> Title: Need to amend the existing Maternity Benefit Act to ensure equal opportunity to every mother.
*SHRIMATI PRAMILA BISOYI (ASKA): Respected Sir, the hon. Supreme Court had sought clarification from the Central Government regarding a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Maternity Benefit Act. According to this Act a woman can get maternity benefit only if she legally adopts an infant who is less than three-months old. This particular law is discriminatory in nature as it affects not only the adopted child but also the orphaned and abandoned infants. A mother having an adopted child gets only 12 weeks of maternity leave while a regular mother gets 26 weeks of leave. This is unfair and highly discriminatory. Therefore, I urge upon the hon. Minister for Woman & Child Development to bring in necessary amendments to the existing Act to provide equal opportunity to every mother. Through you, Sir, I want to draw the attention of the hon. Minister.
माननीय सभापति: यही लोकतंत्र का सौंदर्य और उसकी ताकत है।
… ( व्यवधान)