Chennai
While the Centre has imposed a 12 per cent tax on sanitary napkins under GST regime, Arunachalam Muruganantham, who is known as India’s Menstrual Man, says making sanitary napkins affordable is a way of empowering women.
The decision to slap 12 per cent tax on sanitary napkins has not gone well with citizens. Social media is buzzing with discussions that sanitary pads should be made tax free as it is a necessity for women.
Arunachalam Muruganantham, also known as India’s Menstrual Man who has been spearheading a campaign to make sanitary pads for women across the country, recently collaborated with Snapdeal for a digital campaign ‘Stop-the-spot’. People can donate for sanitary pads through the shopping website and these pads will be dispatched through Arunachalam Muruganantham’s Jayaashree Industries that makes low-cost sanitary pads to various NGOs that will distribute them in rural areas.
“As the word spread out, people started donating money, which I didn’t want because I am a social entrepreneur. This is a great opportunity to reach out to women in rural areas. In India, 90 per cent of the women do not have access to sanitary pads,” says Muruganantham, adding, “Having said that, there is more awareness in recent years and people are openly talking about menstruation in urban areas. This should be repeated in rural areas too.”
The social entrepreneur has also collaborated with Sathyabama University to allow the college to use his machine to make low-cost pads that would be dis tributed in orphanages and government schools.
Arunachalam says the government should look at it as a way of empowering women. “When sanitary pads are made accessible to all school girls, they will not miss classes or drop out midway. Once educated, they will add to India’s workforce and empower the country. Development should not be limited to metros and cities,” says Arunachalam.
A movie named Padman is being made based on his life, which has been written by Twinkle Khanna and will have Akshay Kumar play his character. “I always say that men should also be part of the conversation when it comes to menstrual hygiene. It is the first time that a mainstream Bollywood actor will talk about menstruation and that’s the testimony to changing times,” he says.
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