The Assam government on Saturday took a number of major decisions in its cabinet meeting in Guwahati, including extension of maternity leaves for government employees coming in as a major relief for pregnant women at work.

In an inspiring decision, the cabinet today decided to extend the maternity leave to 26 weeks (6.5 months) from the previous allowed 12 weeks for government women employees in Assam.

It may be mentioned that the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was passed in both houses of Parliament under which the maternity leave period to pregnant women was enhanced to 26 weeks from 12 weeks.

After Parliament passed the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016, most of the states started to increase maternity leave to 26 weeks for women employees in their respective states.

The cabinet also discussed on a number of other issues and decided with new reforms. One of them is the formation of 'Climate Change Committee'. Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal will head this committee.

The cabinet also focused on forming a Biotechnology Society in the state. The CM will take lead of the society too.

The cabinet also decided to slash GST for work related to the tourism sector for the next 10 years. The government has decided to offer a relief of 50 percent GST in this sector in the State.