Crèche facility to come up at Parliament House

The Parliament House is setting up crèche facility on its premises for establishing inclusive and supportive work environment for its women employees. This is in line with provisions of Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017.
It will be 1500 sq-foot centre and guarded by professionals, ensuring all-round development of children and will also have separate feeding room to aid mothers. This will help to bring in visible impact by pushing other private establishments, central and state owned organizations to set up crèche facility, to aid mothers

Background

The Ministry of Women and Child Development had requested Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to set up of a crèche at Parliament premises. It had pointed out that since over one-third of total number of the officials working in the Parliament were women, the provision of a crèche facility was crucial. Moreover, the issue was also raised by MPs in both the Houses of Parliament too during debate on Maternity Benefit amendments.

Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017

The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 makes it mandatory for workplaces with more than 50 employees to provide mandatory crèche facility. The provisions Act mandate healthy workplace diversity and direct establishments of crèche facility. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are followed while accepting employees’ request for Crèche registrations.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2018