DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand government will provide 180 days of child adoption leave for the first time to a single male government employee if he adopts only a male child under one-year of age. The state finance department claims Uttarakhand is the first state in the country to take such a decision.
Speaking to this newspaper, Finance Minister Premchand Agarwal said, “Since the right to equality has now come to every field, the government has decided to give 6 months of adoption leave to single male employees as well, taking a more flexible approach to adopting a child and considering the practicality.”
Friday’s decision also includes daily wage women employees, who will also get entitled for the childcare leave. In the state cabinet meeting on Friday, five major proposals related to various holidays of the Finance Department were approved.According to the decision taken in the cabinet, “A single male employee of the state government will also get child adoption leave. For them, this holiday will be for 180 days.”
This holiday is already available for single women. Male single employees will get this leave only on adopting a boy.”In the decisions taken by the cabinet, it was also agreed that “women and single male employees posted on contract and outsourced basis in the state government will get child adoption leave on the adoption of a child below one year of age, but for them, this leave will be for 120 days.”
According to the cabinet decisions, “The government will also give six months of maternity leave to the daily wage women employees of the state. Outsourced and contractual women employees were already getting this leave.”
“Contractual and outsourced employees posted in various departments will also get 15 days paternity leave like government employees. Contractual outsourced women employees will get 15 days of childcare leave. Single men will also get childcare leave,” the cabinet decided.
Taking a dig at this, Congress spokesperson Mohan Kala said, “No matter how many holidays the BJP announces as a temptation, the public has decided to give them (BJP) permanent leave.”Ratan Lal, an employee of the state government’s education department, who recently made up his mind to adopt a child as a single father,told this newspaper, “This move of the state government is welcome and I think I will be able to lay the foundation of my family… my dream of having a complete family will come true.”