Paternal leave introduced in Jharkhand

Ranchi, Feb 14(UNI) The would be fathers in Jharkhand will now enjoy paternal leave for the first time while maternal leave has been raised to 135 days from exisitng three months.

The cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Madhu Koda, today took a decision to this effect. As per the Centre's guidelines, the fathers would avail 15 days of paternal leave, which was introduced in the state for the time, cabinet secretary J B Tubid said.

Among other decisions, the cabinet gave approval to hike the fee structure of many technical educational institutions in the state.

As per the new recommendations, fees per student per annum was increased to Rs 7,770 from Rs 152 at Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Sinddri while fees for per student per annum was raised to Rs 2400 from existing Rs 77 at polytechnic and mining education institutes, he said.

However, the SC/ST students in those institutes were required to cough up only 25 per cent of the fees, he said adding the the new fee structure would be implemented with immediate effect.

UNI