UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — What did the SC say about paid maternity leave?

Q1. The maternity benefit provisions under the Code on Social Security, 2020 are administered at the Union level by which one of the following Ministries?

  • A. Ministry of Women and Child Development
  • B. Ministry of Labour and Employment
  • C. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
  • D. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

Q2. In the context of the Code on Social Security, 2020, the term 'commissioning mother' refers to which one of the following?

  • A. A woman who legally adopts a child below three months of age
  • B. A biological mother who uses her egg to create an embryo implanted in any other woman
  • C. A woman who, as a surrogate, carries and delivers a child for another couple
  • D. A court-appointed legal guardian of an orphaned or abandoned child

Q3. The provision restricting paid maternity leave for adoptive mothers to cases where the adopted child was below three months of age, which the Supreme Court struck down in March 2026, was contained in which one of the following?

  • A. Section 27 of the Code on Wages, 2019
  • B. Section 60(4) of the Code on Social Security, 2020
  • C. Section 53 of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020
  • D. Section 5(3) of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020