BENGALURU: Probably for the first time in the country, the Karnataka Government is planning to roll out the Menstrual Leave Policy (MLP), 2025.
The policy will provide women employees a day’s paid leave every month. It will mandate that employers adopt this policy, across public and private sectors.
The Karnataka cabinet is expected to discuss this concept and give its approval when it meets on Thursday.
The labour department has sought administrative approval for Menstrual Leave Policy, 2025, to sanction one day’s paid leave for all working women across all sectors within the state, including government offices, various private sector industries like garment factories, multi-national companies, IT and other companies that are operating within the state.
Kerala has introduced two days of menstrual leave for female trainees of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).
In Bihar and Odisha, there is a 12-day annual menstrual leave policy, but it is only for their state government employees.
Hope menstrual leave policy gets cabinet nod: Lad
“Karnataka will be the first state to introduce this policy comprehensively. This is applicable for all the women workforce irrespective of government and private sector. This will be a progressive bill,’’ Labour Minister Santosh Lad told TNIE.
In 2024, the government had proposed six menstrual leaves per year, but now the policy stresses on 12 leaves. According to Lad, initially, it was proposed to give six days in a year and many said that this does not serve the purpose. “I am aware of the physical pain and mental stress that every woman go through during this time. These days, women are in every field. This policy will help each one of them. I am hoping that this will be approved in the cabinet on Thursday,’’ he said.
Bengaluru has hundreds of garment factories with five lakh workers, nearly 90 per cent of them are women. There are large number of women working in IT and other sectors. “This policy if approved will help women in large number,’’ Lad said.
