Bill proposes extending maternity leave to six months

Health and Food Hygiene Minister Nisha Mehta has tabled a bill in the House of Representatives proposing to extend paid maternity leave for working women to six months.

Under the bill to amend the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act, presented at Monday's session, women working in government, non-government and private organisations would receive this leave before and after childbirth.

The bill also proposes 42 days of paid paternity care leave for male employees when their wives give birth. The current law provides 90 days of leave for mothers and 15 days for fathers.

Minister Mehta said the law is being amended to boost the population growth rate—shown by the latest census to be continuously declining—through leave provisions and incentives.

The bill also includes provisions to add and amend clauses on abortion carried out in special circumstances, and to clarify the definition of forced abortion.

At the same session, Minister Mehta also tabled bills on regulating the sale of breast-milk substitute products, the safety of health workers, and the establishment of the Ram Raja Prasad Singh Health Science Academy in Madhesh Province. The amendment bill on breast-milk substitutes proposes raising the age limit of children covered by the law from 12 months to 3 years. The government has placed all four bills on its priority list for the current fiscal year.