Sanitary Napkins: Government should spread awareness & supply free to poor girls

The democracy has three constituent: Government of the people, by the people and for the people. The concept ‘For the People’ makes it mandatory for the government to work for the welfare of its citizens. To accomplish the object of welfare of the citizens of India, fundamental rights have been granted by the Constitution of India. The heart of fundamental rights is the right to life and liberty. Under this right, people are entitled for all the basic amenities essential for good living such as health, education, food and shelter etc. In the present era, a new philosophy is applicable:
‘If character is gone, something very little is gone
Wealth is gone, something is gone,
health is gone, everything is gone’
The foremost priority of every government should be education and health. The Indian government started a mission called as ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’. But the irony is that the said mission is being partly implemented. Health of the citizens of India is one of the aspects which should be considered as essential ingredient of the said mission, which is totally missing. Country cannot progress until and unless progress of woman especially rural women is there. If Man is the mind of the nation woman is the Soul of the nation. Rural women upliftment should be the priority of the government and it should start with providing basic health amenities to rural woman. One of the important measures which government should take for the health of women is providing sanitary napkins free of cost or at subsidised rate in rural areas and to women belonging to weaker section of the society. Menstruation is the natural phenomena which a girl faces since she attains puberty.
‘Menstruation is by nature, not by choice,
It’s a necessity not a luxury’
In olden days hygienic methods were not available, with scientific development, sanitary napkins were introduced to provide better hygienic conditions to the girls. Despite the fact that sanitary napkins are the best option during menstruation, still many girls/women are unable to take the benefit of the same. The major reason for not using sanitary napkins is the poor financial condition of the family. As per World Bank, 30% of Indian population was living below International poverty line. In 2011- 12, based on Suresh Tendulkar panel recommendation the poverty line was fixed at Rs. 27/– in rural areas and Rs. 33/– in urban area. As per the said committee 21.9% people were living below poverty line. In 2014 the said slab of poverty line was recommended to be increased to Rs. 32 in rural area and Rs. 47/– in urban area and with this increase it was estimated that 29.5% of Indian population was below poverty line. In Rs. 32/– in present-day it is very tough to arrange enough food for a day for a person. How can a prudent person can even imagine that a woman will be able to spent on sanitary pads when she was not even able to have enough money for her food. Home-made pads of cotton are totally unhygienic and can lead to serious medical implications to the woman. It is well known old saying ‘Prevention is better than cure’. The government must endeavour to prevent any health hazard to the people of India. Instead of promoting the multinational companies who are manufacturing sanitary pads, the government should find out an alternative so that sanitary pads can be made available to the poor woman free of cost or at subsidised rate. Here are some recommendations for the government of India to fulfil the aforesaid objective.
1. There are many small scale Industries working in manufacturing of sanitary pads in remote areas and providing facilities to rural women. Government should provide subsidies to such companies.
2. That the government should open more small scale industries for manufacturing sanitary pads and provide it to poor girls free of cost and to others, must sell it at no profit no loss price.
3. The government should spread awareness about usage of sanitary pads among rural girls.
4. No tax should be levied on sanitary pads. In fact the government had been selling condoms for free, there is no tax on Viagra then why government is imposing tax on sanitary pads instead of selling them free?