Balancing ESI Benefits: How to Manage Maternity Needs and Parental Care?

I am an ESI employee for the last 8 years, and there has been a continuous contribution to ESI. In ESI benefits, my mother and father are covered with me as I am the only child. Now, I got married in April 2013, and I want to avail maternity ESI facilities. However, at the same time, my father's heart treatment is also ongoing through ESI. My parents are entirely dependent on me, and during that time, they require ESI facilities for their health. After marriage, I also need ESI facilities because of my financial condition. Please advise me.

Definition of Family Under the ESI Act

Family under the ESI Act is defined as follows, which clarifies your query: you, your dependent parents whose income does not exceed the prescribed limit, your spouse, and children are covered in the family.

"Family" means all or any of the following relatives of an insured person, namely:
- A spouse;
- A minor legitimate or adopted child dependent upon the insured person;
- A child who is wholly dependent on the earnings of the insured person and who is:
- Receiving education, until he or she attains the age of twenty-one years,
- An unmarried daughter;
- A child who is infirm by reason of any physical or mental abnormality or injury and is wholly dependent on the earnings of the insured person, so long as the infirmity continues;
- Dependent parents, whose income from all sources does not exceed such income as may be prescribed by the Central Government;
- In case the insured person is unmarried and his or her parents are not alive, a minor brother or sister wholly dependent upon the earnings of the insured person.

Hope this matter is clear, and I wish you all the best.

Thanks,
V K Gupta