Critical study of sustainability of Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 in India

Abstract

With the current increase in the number of participation of women in work sector, with special reference to young women from urban area, it is essential to focus on the development and care taking of the rights of working women. The need to produce a conducive work environment in order to create a gender friendly labour market has arisen, now more than ever. The government role in providing such environment which facilitate social justice in both organized and unorganized sector has increased. A step toward this form of social justice is maternity benefit act introduced by the Indian government in 1961 and later amended in 2017. This paper studies the scope of maternity benefit act and focuses on the sustainability of the amendments in the long run and changing dynamics of the industries. In the end, the paper presents the recommendation to improve the maternity benefit act in order for it to become more inclusive.