A proposal by the women and child development ministry to increase maternity leave period has been pending with the labour ministry for over six months, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said on Tuesday.
She said her ministry has been following up, on a "daily" basis, the proposal to increase the current 12 weeks leave to 26 weeks and also clarified that it is still pending perhaps because the labour ministry is "putting it in a larger labour laws perspective".
"The labour ministry had agreed to it, but it has been there since six and a half months.
"We are pursuing it daily," Gandhi said adding that she has been getting calls from women to know if it is being implemented soon.
"They are so hopeful, I am so hopeful... not that they (labour ministry) are not taking initiative... they are putting it in larger labour law perspective," she said.
The minister also said that a bill to give more teeth to the National Commission for Women (NCW) also remains pending.
--IANS
ao/vd
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