The Odisha government led by chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday announced that women employees working in various government departments will now get an additional 10 days of casual leave annually apart from the 15 days they were getting.
The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said the announcement has been made in view of the domestic responsibilities and other problems faced by women government employees. It is pertinent to mention here that Odisha was the first state to announce 33 percent reservation in government jobs during the 90’s.
Last week, the state government announced paid maternity leave of 180 days for women block grant employees. Last month, the state government doubled the maternity benefit from ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 under Mamata, a State-specific scheme for pregnant women and lactating mothers. The scheme launched in 2011 to reduce maternal and child mortality, has benefitted more than 60 lakh pregnant woman and mothers.
A day ago, the state government had hiked the per diem allowance for each meeting of women officials of block level and panchayat level SHG federation to ₹500, weeks after it announced financial aid of ₹1,000 each for uniforms and blazers of the 7 million SHG members. The State Cabinet approved ₹2,000 each for 150,000 SHG members in leadership positions.
Under the Mission Shakti Scooter Yojana introduced in October last year, the state government announced that 200,000 women will get interest-free loans up to ₹1 lakh to buy scooters. The government has allocated ₹528 crore to bear the interest of scooter loans, etc.
{{/usCountry}}Under the Mission Shakti Scooter Yojana introduced in October last year, the state government announced that 200,000 women will get interest-free loans up to ₹1 lakh to buy scooters. The government has allocated ₹528 crore to bear the interest of scooter loans, etc.
{{/usCountry}}In 2019, the state government had announced that while male members in families having Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, a health assurance scheme, would get treatment in empanelled private hospitals upto ₹5 lakh, it would be ₹10 lakh for women.
While the state government has been announcing sops almost everyday with an eye on the forthcoming assembly and Lok Sabha polls next month, the biggest beneficiaries have been women. The women’s voter turnout went up from 54% in 2000 to 74% in 2019 outnumbering that of men in Odisha.