Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Monday said male government employees who were single parents were now entitled to child care leave.
“Single male parent” included employees who were unmarried or widower or divorcee and might therefore be expected to take up the responsibility of caring for a child single-handedly, he said.
Describing it as a path-breaking and progressive reform to bring ease of living for government servants, Mr. Singh said orders regarding the decision were issued some time ago but somehow did not get enough traction in public domain.
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In further relaxation, the Minister of State for Personnel said an employee on child care leave might now leave the headquarters with the prior approval of the competent authority, according to an official statement.
In addition, the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) might be availed by the employee even if he was on child care leave, he added.
The child care leave could be granted at 100% of leave salary for the first 365 days and 80% of leave salary for the next 365 days, Mr. Singh said in the statement issued by the Personnel Ministry.
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Based on inputs received over a period of time, he said another welfare measure introduced in this regard was that in case of a disabled child, the condition of availing child care leave up to the age of 22 years of the child had been removed.
Now child care leave could be availed by a government servant for a disabled child of any age, he added.
With the personal intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his special emphasis on governance reforms, Mr. Singh said, it had been possible to make several out-of-the-box decisions in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) over the last six years.
The basic purpose behind all these decisions had always been to enable a government employee to contribute to the maximum of his potential, although at the same time there would be no leniency or tolerance towards corruption or non-performance, he said.