Odisha: Maternity Leave Period Increased To 180 Days For Women Employees Of Aided Colleges

All eligible women working in the higher education department can avail the benefit.

New Delhi: In news that will bring cheer for women employees in Odisha, the state government Tuesday increased the maternity leave period to six months, from the current 90 days, for the employees of aided colleges under the state's Department of Higher Education.

Amid the Covid situation, the move will offer benefits to mothers who can stay home to care for the newborn and join back once the situation is back to normal.

The maternity leave duration, which was 90 days earlier, has been increased to 180 days, and all eligible women working in the higher education department can avail of the benefit, news agency ANI reported.

The Odisha state cabinet on Monday also raised the upper age limit from 32 to 38 years for recruitment in government jobs. The decision was taken to enable aspirants, who missed out on the opportunity because of the Covid situation over the last two years, to appear for recruitment examinations.

"The relaxation in the upper age limits will be initially applicable for three years — 2021, 2022, and 2023. The upper age limit for candidates belonging to SC/ST and SEBC categories has been increased to 43 years. Similarly, the upper age limit will be 43 years for women candidates,” Chief Secretary Suresh Mohapatra said, according to a Hindustan Times report.

As an impact of the Covid-19 lockdowns and other restrictions in 2020, the state said, there will be no new jobs in the government sector except for the health and family welfare department for the next two years.

Under the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017, maternity leave was raised from 12 weeks to 26 weeks. The prenatal leave was also extended from six to eight weeks. However, a woman with already two or more children is entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave. The prenatal leave in this case remains six weeks.

The state witnessed the highest single-day Covid-19 spike this year. Odisha has reported 7,071 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the active caseload in the state to 27,216. Out of the 7071 cases, 4,128 were detected in quarantine while 2,943 are local contact cases, according to the state information and public relations department.