Why Sikkim is pushing for generous maternity leaves

A look at the impact of Sikkim giving a full year of maternity leave to its employees

Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang has announced that his government will give a full year of maternity leave and a month of paternity leave to its employees. The national law on maternity leaves – the Maternity Benefit Act 1961 – already entitles women to six months, or 26 weeks, of paid maternity leave for their first two children and three months for subsequent children.

The provisions make Sikkim more progressive on paper than even several developed countries. (HT_PRINT)

An HT analysis shows that while these provisions make Sikkim more progressive on paper than

The charts that matter

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  Sikkim’s year-long maternity leave is more generous than nearly 90% of OECD countries

  The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international forum for market-based economies, gives data on the mandated paid leave for parental care for its 38 member countries. A comparison of India with these countries (India is a key partner but not a member of the OECD) shows that the 26-week maternity leave available in India is better than the total paid parental leave available in 20 of the 38 OECD countries. Sikkim’s year-long leave paid leave, although restricted to government employees, will be more generous to new mothers than the total parental leave available in 87% of OECD countries. To be sure, parental leave here includes maternity leave for the period surrounding childbirth or adoption and leave for longer-term child support. Indian laws for paid leaves for adoption are different from the parental leave policies described here. Similarly, not all OECD countries offer fully-paid maternity or parental care leave. Figures presented here reflect the equivalent number of full-wage weeks of leave based on the number of guaranteed weeks of leave and the corresponding share of salary paid.
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  The policy change comes at a time of declining fertility rate in Sikkim ...

  Chief minister Tamang suggested that the proposed change in policy was aimed at supporting government employees and for growth and development of the state. However, in as much as it supports families having children, it can also arrest the declining fertility rate of the state. Sikkim’s total fertility rate (TFR) – the average number of children a woman is expected to have – was 1.1 in the 2019-21 National Family Health Survey (NFHS), down from 1.2 in the 2015-16 NFHS. In both surveys, Sikkim’s TFR was the lowest among all states. To be sure, Sikkim’s TFR in absolute terms is more important than its relative rank among different states. A sustained TFR below 2.1, called the replacement fertility rate, leads to a decline in population over time. A corollary of this is that a low TFR leads to an ageing, perhaps even declining population and, therefore, a smaller labour force.
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  ... but may not even benefit all government workers in Sikkim

  Whatever the motive of the policy change in Sikkim, it will affect only around a quarter of women workers in the state. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted in 2021-22, only 28% of women workers in Sikkim worked in government, local body or a public sector enterprise . While this number is higher than the all-India average of 8.3% women working in government jobs, it comes with no better guarantee of paid leaves. The 2021-22 PLFS shows that 67% of women with government jobs in Sikkim were not eligible or did not know about any social security benefits to which they were entitled, which is similar to the 62% figure for women at the all-India level. To be sure, health or maternity benefit (PLFS does not give a breakup for this) is available to almost all women eligible for any social security benefit. However, even outside government jobs, the current laws relating to maternity leave are irrelevant to a vast majority of workers simply because they are either self-employed or in jobs with no social security benefits. If self-employed workers are counted as workers ineligible for any social security benefits (PLFS does not ask them questions about social security benefits), 93% of women workers at the country level and 88% in Sikkim are not entitled to any social security benefits.
• Does low eligibility for maternity leave mean the government breaks its own laws?

  Not necessarily. It is more likely the case that the government is not obliged by law to provide benefits to all workers it employs. This is because a large share of even government employees are not bound by contract; 48% of women in government jobs at the country level and 36% in Sikkim have no written job contract, according to the 2021-22 PLFS. For men, this number is 34% at the country level and 33% in Sikkim.