{"id":1095,"date":"2023-04-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/14-04-2023\/maternity-benefits-to-adoptive-mothers\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T13:56:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T08:26:15","slug":"maternity-benefits-to-adoptive-mothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/14-04-2023\/maternity-benefits-to-adoptive-mothers","title":{"rendered":"Maternity Benefits to Adoptive Mothers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><u>In News<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition challenging the constitutional validity of<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong> Section 5(4) of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><u>Section 5(4) of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It states that a woman who legally adopts a child below <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>three months old will be entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The petition challenges <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Section 5(4) of the Act on grounds of being \u201cdiscriminatory\u201d and \u201carbitrary<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8221; towards adoptive mothers and orphaned children over three months.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><u>Maternity Benefit Amendment Act 2017<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong> original 1961 legislation did not have specific provisions<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> for mothers who adopt.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 amended Section 5 of the erstwhile Act<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> to allow 26 weeks of paid leave after childbirth, although only to biological mothers.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: circle;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">According to <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Section 5(4) of the amended Act<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, \u201cA woman who legally adopts a child below the age of three months or a commissioning mother shall be entitled to maternity benefit for a period of twelve weeks from the date the child is handed over to the adopting mother or the commissioning mother, as the case may be.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: circle;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>term commissioning mother<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> would be the mother who seeks to obtain a child through a rented womb of a surrogate mother. However, the commission mother remains the biological mother of the child and retains all rights in respect of the child.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Option to work from home<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">: The Bill introduces a provision that states that an employer may permit a woman to work from home.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Cr\u00e8che facilities: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Bill introduces a provision which requires every establishment with 50 or more employees to provide cr\u00e8che facilities within a prescribed distance.\u00a0 The woman will be allowed four visits to the cr\u00e8che in a day.\u00a0 This will include her interval for rest.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Informing women employees of the right to maternity leave.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: disc;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><u>applies<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0to <u><strong>both organised and\u00a0unorganized sector.<\/strong><\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Source: <\/span><\/span><\/span><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/maternity-benefits-to-adoptive-mothers-what-the-law-says-challenge-in-sc-8555013\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"color: #1155cc;\"><u>IE<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Further Reading: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/editorial-analysis\/21-06-2025\/financing-maternity-rights-in-india\">Maternity Rights in India<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News The Supreme Court agreed to hear a petition challenging the constitutional validity of Section 5(4) of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. Section 5(4) of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 It states that a woman who legally adopts a child below three months old will be entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[30,47,84],"class_list":["post-1095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-gs-2","tag-health","tag-management-of-social-sector"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1095"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45986,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1095\/revisions\/45986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}