Increase Availability of Subsidised Sanitry Napkins/Pads in Rural Maharashtra

Only 12% of India's 355 million menstruating women use sanitary napkins (SNs).
Over 88% of women resort to shocking alternatives like unsanitised cloth, ashes and husk sand.
Incidents of Reproductive Tract Infection (RTI) is 70% more common among these women.
Inadequate menstrual protection makes adolescent girls (age group 12-18 years) miss 5 days of school in a month (50 days a year). Around 23% of these girls actually drop out of school after they started menstruating.
The biggest barrier to using a sanitary napkin is affordability. Around 70% of women in India say their family can't afford to buy them.

Nearly 97% gynaecologists in the study believed that use of napkins reduced the risk of severe RTIs. Around 64% of them also believed that STs reduce the risk of cervical cancer.
In the survey conducted in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Gorakhpur, Aurangabad and Vijayawada, around 31% women reported a drop in productivity levels during their periods, missing 2.2 days of work on an average. Menstrual hygiene is lowest in eastern India with 83% women saying their families can't afford SNs.

This petitions aims to facilitate the easy access to sanitary napkins in rural India and in turn also help setting up organisations such as SHGs and Social businesses which will help facilitate the manufacture of such pads/napkins.