Shiv Kumar Padha
The Article 14 of the Indian Constitution is considered a corner stone of Indian democracy which ensures that the promise of equality is realized in practice ensuring that all individuals, regardless of their backgrounder status, are treated equally under the law. It implies that no one should be favored or discriminated against, and all citizens should be subject to the same legal framework. But in practice there are many laws which, on the one hand speak about the equality before law and on the other, they are biased and cater to the comforts and facilities of privileged classes of society. The provision of ‘Child Care Leave’ is totally silent in the cases of the mothers working as laborers on the roads, in the private and un organized sector, working in hazardous situations and those engaged in the construction work of multi story and sky scrapers. No doubt the provision of CCL, for the government employ mothers, is appreciable and lauded in the society but in reality it is sheer contravention of the article 14 of the constitution guarantying equality of all citizens before law of the land.
Early Childhood Care and Education ECCE programs encompass care, health, nutrition, and learning for children from birth to eight years. In order to ensure proper care, of the child there is a provision for Child Care leave CCL for women employees working in government or in public sector institutions, a type of leave granted to women employees to care for their minor children, It is typically used for rearing a child looking after their needs like examinations or addressing sickness. According to the provisions of the CCL. it is often granted for up to two children and can be availed for a maximum period of two years (730 days) during employee’s entire service. So far as the CCL provisions for the women employees of the government and public sector is concerned, it is appreciable. If we test the justification of CCL on the touching stone of the constitution, its provisions are biased as they cater only for the women employees working in government and public sector whereas it is silent about the women ilk working as daily wagers in the private sector and non organized sector which refers to economic activities that operate outside the formal regulatory frame work, lacking official registration, labor laws and social security. These activities include small scale enterprises, family businesses, self employment involving labor. Workers in this sector are frequently non- unionists, face low incomes, unstable employment and lack of legal protection. According to history;
4Monarchs and the Mugal emperors, in order to make their issues stout and strong capable of transacting the business of their empire in future, used to send them away from the warmth of the affection of their parents, to the hot deserts and the snow bound regions to acclimatize them i.e survival under new environment conditions.
4Raja Dashrath sent his four sons in Guru Vishishat ashram where they received the type of education the humanity has ever aspired for. Lord Krishana Balram and Sudama received education in Maharishi Sandeepni Ashram. Bharat the son of Mata Shakuntla received education in Kanav Rishi Ashram where he remained in the company of the lions and the predators and learned the skills of warfare. Sons of Kaouravs and Pandvas attended Guru Dronacharyas Ashram where they learnt the skills of warfare and became the warriors of the time. Their tough life, constant hard work and passion for learning made them super humans of the time.
Though the CCL is widely appreciated among its beneficiaries but there are many reservations regarding its implementation and its enactment. The CCL, not only facilitates the government employee mothers but, in majority of cases it is misused by them. It is commonly seen that the majority of the children of the government employ parents are admitted in the local residential schools or they are sent to the prestigious schools away their families till the completion of their education. In majority of cases the provision of 730 days of CCL are misused and are utilized by many parents in performing tours, looking after their home affairs and their private jobs at the cost of the leave salary which they are entitled for in lieu of the CCL. This results into a big toll of the national and state exchequers. On the contrary the women ilk working in hazardous environment cannot attend their children. They cannot attend their children or breast feed them without the permission of their employers. Their children are seen either sleeping on the site under the umbrella or playing with dust on the roads and streets without being cared for. There is no provision for the mothers serving in the private sector either.
Hats off for the nations who do not tax their state and countries for their selfish and personal comforts and facilities. I feel pertinent to mention here that in many countries the women perform their duties with their breast feeding children in the arms and laps. There are many such example where women are seen discharging their duties with their small babies in their arms. The examples of one woman senator of the Australian parliament delivering her speech in the house with her baby sucking simultaneously, the Israeli woman on guard with weapon carrying her 8 months old child. Maharani Laxmi Bai fighting the battle with her small child Damodar tied with her waist.
Rearing, upbringing and caring of the children is the universal duty of the parents which they have been discharging since the evolution. Providing facilities of CCL to one privileged section of society and neglecting other citizens of the same country is a constitutional crime which must be either reviewed or its scope be extended to those mothers who have not been taken in the ambit of CCL yet.
(The writer is a social activist from Basohli)
