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New Delhi, Sept. 5 (PTI): Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Monday that women employees of the Central government are giving better output due to several facilities that include 730 days child care leave (CCL) and leave travel concession (LTC).
Addressing the women officers and staff of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Department of Pensions and others on the occasion of Teacher's Day, Singh also said just three days ago, the DoPT has taken a historic decision to grant a 60-day special maternity leave for women central government employees in case of still birth or death of an infant within a few days of birth, an official statement said.
Referring to some of the major reforms and initiatives taken towards women welfare, the minister said steps like continuation of the grant of 730 days CCL, facility of LTC, removal of the limit of 22 years in case of disabled child for the purpose of a government servant availing CCL and special allowance of Rs 3,000 per month to women employees with disability have resulted in better output, besides bringing ease of living for women employees.
He pointed out that various instructions have been issued by the DoPT from time to time highlighting the special provisions in the rules and regulations for the benefit of women employees for increasing representation of women in central government jobs and ease the difficulties being faced by them.
Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governance reforms in the last eight years have enabled "ease of working" for women and are actually, in a broader sense, huge social reforms aimed at providing women employees an opportunity to perform to the best of their potential with a high level of dignity and self-esteem.
He said his ministry has taken concerted efforts to increase the representation of women in central government jobs and to provide them a balance between professional and family life.
Referring to Prime Minister's 76th Independence Day speech, the minister said since his very first Red Fort address in 2014, Modi has announced several schemes for empowerment of women, be it building of household toilets, Ujjawala, 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao', Mahila e-haat or working women hostels.
He said even STEP (Support to Training and Employment Programme) scheme aims to provide skills that give employability to women and to provide competencies and skill that enable women to become self-employed or entrepreneurs.
Dwelling on pension reforms, Singh said a number of revolutionary reforms, including relaxation in the provision of family pension for divorced daughters and 'Divyangs', introduction of face recognition technology through mobile app for ease in submitting life certificate by elderly pensioners, electronic pension pay order, assistance from postal department to facilitate pension process, etc, and steps like extension of family pension to differently abled child of a deceased government employee and pensioner or giving a major hike in the family pension emoluments for 'Divyang' children of a deceased government servant and pensioner are not only pension reforms but these are social reforms having wide socio-economic implications.
The minister said in May this year, the DoPT had relaxed family pension rules for missing central government employees and the new rule has done away with seven-year mandatory wait and, in all cases, where a government servant covered by NPS goes missing during service, the benefits of family pension will be immediately paid to the family of the missing government servant.