India’s Maternity Benefits law will do more bad than good. Critically evaluate. (200 words)
Refer – Financial Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 6 years
KEY POINTS
Maternity Benefits (Amendment) Act, 2017
· Needs of working mother at the centre stage – provides women, 26 weeks of paid maternity leave, as opposed to the earlier 12 weeks.
· Reinforced the work-life balance – mandates workplaces to have creches
· allowed women to work from home under mutually agreed terms
· aims to encourage retention of women in the work force
Outcomes
· Of course, the amendment has supported the retention of women in the work force — the retention rate of women has increased to 56 percent from 33 percent.
· However, the negative impact has been that new women are being turned away from joining the work force.
· The policy disincentivises companies and organisations from hiring more women.
· Thereby, contributing to the further decline of the female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR).
Issues in the Act
· It ignores the patriarchal nature of Indian industries.
· It doesn’t provide for a risk mitigation design for this decline in LFPR.
Way Ahead
· Many of India’s competitors don’t offer similar benefits.
· For example, the US provides up to 12 weeks leave, but that is unpaid.
· China mandates a 14-week maternity leave with a maternity allowance.
· Indeed, many countries, such as Canada and the UK bear either part of the parental-benefit costs or reimburse employers.
· India would possibly be able to better its female workforce participation if it did the same instead of making employers shoulder the entire responsibility.
