The State Bank of India (SBI) is now reversing its recently announced rules, which stated that if a female candidate is pregnant for more than three months, the candidate will be considered “temporarily unfit”. It further said the candidate can join the bank four months after delivery. After this announcement, the bank received huge criticism from all walks of life. The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) called the bank discriminatory against women and had also sent a notice to SBI asking for its new rules to be repealed and asking for a response.
DCW chairman Swati Maliwal criticized the move, saying the rule appeared discriminatory and illegal. The chairman had also said on Twitter that the move violates maternity benefits under the 2020 Code of Social Security, adding that the rules are discriminatory on the basis of gender, thus infringing fundamental rights under the constitution. are determined.
Read|SBI calls pregnant women unfit for service, DCW hits notice
Meanwhile, the All India State Bank of India Employees Association (AISBIEA) called the new rules “hostilely discriminatory and anti-female,” which “miss “medical logic and scientific rationale” in its letter to SBI, as reported by CNBC.
SBI Comment Post Criticism
In the latest development, SBI has reversed its recent announcement about recruiting pregnant women candidates after it faced a massive blunder from all walks of life. In a statement, the bank said: “Given the public sentiment, SBI has decided to suspend revised instructions regarding the recruitment of candidates for pregnant women. SBI to continue with existing instructions on the matter.”
By suspending the new recruiting rules, the bank added: “SBI recently reviewed the various fitness standards for recruiting at the bank, including candidate standards for pregnant women. Revised guidelines were intended to provide clarity on several health parameters where instructions were unclear or very old. In some parts of the media, the revision of the standards has been interpreted as discriminating against women in this regard.” according to a press release.
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