NEW DELHI: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Monday said male government employees who are single parents are now entitled to child care leave.
"Single male parent" includes employees who are unmarried or widower or divorcee and may 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, Singh said orders regarding the decision were issued quite some time back but somehow did not get enough traction in public domain.
In further relaxation, the minister of state for personnel said an employee on child care leave may now leave the headquarters with the prior approval of the competent authority, according to an official statement.
In addition, the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) may be availed by the employee even if he is on child care leave, he added.
The child care leave can be granted at 100 per cent of leave salary for the first 365 days and 80 per cent of leave salary for the next 365 days, Singh said in the statement issued by the personnel ministry.
Based on inputs received over a period of time, he said another welfare measure introduced in this regard is that in case of a disabled child, the condition of availing child care leave up to the age of 22 years of the child has been removed.
Now child care leave can 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, Singh said, it has 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 has always been to enable a government employee to contribute to the maximum of his potential, although at the same time there will be no leniency or tolerance towards corruption or non-performance, he said.