A private member’s bill seeking to give employees a statutory “right to disconnect” from official work-related calls and emails after office hours was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday, putting the spotlight back on the issue of work-life balance in India’s increasingly connected work culture.
According to PTI, NCP MP Supriya Sule tabled the Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025, which proposes the setting up of an employee welfare authority tasked with protecting workers from being forced to respond to official communication outside scheduled working hours or during holidays. The bill seeks to grant every employee the legal right to refuse work-related calls, messages and emails beyond office time and outlines provisions to deal with violations of this right.
Introduced as a private member’s bill, the proposed legislation represents an individual MP’s attempt to address what they believe is an important issue requiring formal law-making. While such bills rarely make it to the statute books, they often succeed in triggering discussions and drawing government attention to pressing social and policy concerns.
The bill was presented during the Winter Session of Parliament, which began on December 1 and is scheduled to run for 15 sittings until December 19. The session has also been overshadowed by tensions surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls currently underway in 12 states.
Several other private members’ bills were also introduced, covering a wide range of issues. Congress MP Kadiyam Kavya presented the Menstrual Benefits Bill, 2024, seeking to establish a legal framework to provide special facilities and support for women employees during their menstrual cycle. In a similar move, LJP MP Shambhavi Choudhary introduced a bill advocating paid menstrual leave for working women and female students, along with improved access to menstrual hygiene facilities and related healthcare benefits.
Meanwhile, Congress MP Manickam Tagore moved a proposal aimed at exempting Tamil Nadu from NEET for undergraduate medical admissions. This development comes just weeks after the Tamil Nadu government approached the Supreme Court, challenging the President’s decision to withhold assent to the state’s anti-NEET legislation.
In another proposal, Independent MP Vishaldada Prakashbapu Patil introduced the Journalist (Prevention of Violence and Protection) Bill, 2024, which seeks to curb attacks on journalists and protect their property. BJP MP Ganesh Singh also introduced a bill advocating wider use of Hindi in Supreme Court proceedings.