The promise of the Maternity Bill Amendment Act was given to us first in Dec 2015 (refer Maneka Gandhi's Interview here https://t.co/OakKeBr9aQ), which then was passed in the Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon Session in August 2016. Our expectations were all set on the Winter Session of December 2016, for the passing of the bill in the Lok Sabha. Sadly, thanks to the demonetization drama, the bill never got passed during the Winter Session. We then asked for an Ordinance route for the bill to become a reality, but that too hasn't happened yet. In a country where women are worshipped, it is really sad to see that this issue hasn't been taken up with the gusto it should be. While Jallikattu got an approval from the government heads via an Ordinance, the future of the Maternity Bill still looms large. This petition on Change.org was raised in October 2016, and it has got only 1065 signatures so far. A sorry figure when compared to the large number of working women that we have in the private sector in India. Women like me have got on public forums and social media like Twitter and Facebook to make our voices heard. Tweeting endlessly to Maneka Gandhi, Bandaru Dattatreya, PMO India, Narendra Modi - yet none of our tweets or messages has been acknowledged or looked into. I have even personally emailed Maneka Gandhi (gandhim@nic.in) and the Ministry of Women and Child Development (min-wcd@nic.in) on their official email IDs but sadly haven't heard from them as well. The upcoming Budget Session 2017 is our only hope and our last chance. Let's continue making our voices heard. Remember, if it doesn't happen now, God alone knows when it will. I encourage and request everyone reading this petition to sign and share in as many numbers as you can. Let's do all that we can to make this happen. Let's make our voices heard and demand our due rights. We cannot take the roads with mass protests or dharnas, but let us do what we can do till our elected authorities are forced to act on our right demands. Tweet, share, retweet all you can with the #MaternityBill hashtag. Social media is a powerful tool, let's make the most of it. So everyone - sign and share this petition. Make some noise. Do all that you can and let us all fight for our due rights!