A sanitary pad ‘revolution’ that has failed to take off in Punjab
MOHALI: The upcoming movie ‘Pad Man ’, inspired by the story of am an who made it his mission to provide low-cost sanitary napkins to village women, has once again put the focus on menstrual hygiene, a subject still under wraps in Punjab.
The previous Akali-BJP government did take some steps in this direction under a project called ‘Swastha Kanya Yojana’, which was supposed to cover every girl from Class 6 to 12, but the proposed budgetary allocation of Rs 24 crore for sanitary napkins was never passed.
“The situation at the ground level is quite grim. Most girl students in Punjab are ignorant about menstrual hygiene,” says Geetanjali Seth Bakshi, a CSR (corporate social responsibility) consultant with Ludhiana-based Versatile Enterprises Limited.
The company launched ‘A mo di ni( happy girl child) Menstural Health and Hygiene Programme’ on May 28,2016 following a survey of 15 schools in Ludhiana in which they found that only 20% of the girls know about menstrual cycle, and the importance of maintaining hygiene during these days. Under the Am odiniproject,i tin st all edp addispenser sand incinerators in 14 government schools. It is plan- ning to add 10 in Ludhiana.
Under lining the importance of government support for this mission, Bakshisaysthey got a push from Ravi Bhagat, at present the chief administrator of GMADA, who launched a drive to provide low-cost napkins to rural and underprivileged women during his stints as DC of Ludhiana, Faridkot, and Amritsar. B ha g at said the aim behind manufacturing sanitary pads and installing napkin-vending machines in schools was to provide affordable napkins to girls, especially from rural areas, who were still using old clothes. “We wanted to raise the level of hygiene, besides reducing absenteeism.”
It was decided to provide every girl three napkins a month without cost. The task of manufacturing was given to under privileged women in villages and towns.
Low-cost manufacturing units were set up at Faridkot, Ajnala and Amritsar. They also made adult diapers for elderly persons with medical problems.
Ki rt preetKa ur, former superintendent of State After-care Home, Amritsar, said girl inmates above 18 were given training for making the napkins. “The project was started about three years back. And 20 girls made around 3000 napkins.”
Mohali DC Gurpreet Kaur Sapra is now planning to initiate a similar movement. “I’m in touch with director, social security, SEWA group of Renana Jhabv ala and M PA mbika Son it o get funds for a project to provide affordable, biodegradable pads,” said Sapra. In Ludhiana, the administration had installed the vending machines in 28 schools two years ago. At six government schools, the machines are defunct for months.
A student can avail the facility in ₹10. The machine dispenses three sanitary napkins at a time. Private companies under corporate social responsibility (CSR) install the machine.
Meanwhile, Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH) programme under National Rural Health Mission, the only central government scheme on menstrual health, has failed to take off in Punjab. Launched 10 years ago, ARSH clinics, which were supposed to be set up in the office of every medical officer, never took off.