CHENNAI: Married woman govt employees in Tamil Nadu will get a full year maternity leave for the third child as well, human resources management minister D Sarathkumar told assembly on Tuesday.Till now, women employees were eligible for one-year paid maternity leave for the first and second children, and 12 weeks for the third child. Now the women get the same benefit for the third child too. The announcement follows years of litigation over capping maternity benefits at two children.Tamil Nadu’s total fertility rate is about 1.3 children per woman, well below the replacement level (the ratio needed to maintain the population) of 2.1. The fertility rate was 3.9 in 1971, 2.7 in 1986 and 1.6 in 2017.With fewer children born every year, and life expectancy growing, Tamil Nadu is becoming an actively ageing state. The state’s population, estimated at 7.2 crore in 2011, is expected to peak at around 7.8 crore by the early 2030s, and fall thereafter if the fertility rate doesn’t increase.
