Kathmandu, 16 September (H.S.): The Nepal government is preparing to extend the duration of maternity and paternity leave. Under the proposal, the existing 90 days of maternity leave available to mothers would be increased to six months. At the same time, the current 15 days of paternity leave would be extended to 42 days.

According to Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sobita Gautam, a bill to amend the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act, 2018, has been prepared. The ministry is now preparing to introduce the bill in Parliament through the Council of Ministers.

The proposed bill provides for at least six months of paid maternity leave for mothers and up to 42 days of paid paternity and newborn-care leave for fathers.

The minister said the proposal would represent a significant policy change in the areas of safe motherhood and parenting.

According to the ministry, most families are now limiting themselves to one or two children because of increasingly busy lifestyles, growing work pressures and changing social patterns. The proposal has therefore been introduced with the objective of enabling parents to spend adequate time with their newborn and family.

Minister Sobita Gautam said motherhood is a special period that generally occurs only once or twice in a woman’s life, and that ensuring parents have sufficient time to care for their newborn and family during this period is also a responsibility of the state. She said that while childbirth is a natural process associated with the mother, raising and caring for a child is not solely the mother’s responsibility but a shared responsibility of both parents.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar