To
Mr Dharmendra Yadav
Member of Parliament
Madhya Pradesh
Subject : MENSTRUAL CARD : The menstrual solution India needs.
Respected Sir
The reason I chose to write to you is that I am deeply inspired by your Ujjwala sanitary napkin initiative in Odisha and would like you to radiate it to more parts of India.
Lately Scotland has been in news and quite for the right reasons, since it is going to be the first ever country to make menstrual products free for all women. No doubt India has made great advances like getting sanitary products tax free. But still we have a long way to go. A lot of campaigns, short films, free distribution of menstrual hygiene products , awareness programs have been conducted in the past 5 years. But despite this only 36% women use sanitary pads in India. According to a source , the average cost per month for availing these products is Rs 300. This is a huge amount to spare for rural women in India who barely get to even invest in basic groceries. So, they choose to rather use cloth to soak the blood. This is the root cause of many infections and serious menstrual disorders like dysmenorrhea also known as irregular periods. The best solution to really bring menstrual hygiene to force is by offering menstrual pads for free if not to all women but to women who can’t afford it. Just like we have ration cards for poor people to avail groceries at a minimal rate. We should have menstrual cards to offer menstrual products for free to women below poverty line.Also , it should be ensured that menstrual pads are free for girls pursuing their education in rural schools. Because it is disheartening to note that nearly 23 million girls drop out of school annualy due to lack of menstrual hygiene management. This one law could really bring the change we all need.
And ministers involved in legislating this law are sure to be appreciated and awarded with an escalating percentage of votes.
I would like to conclude by saying that :
Soldiers shed blood to protect the world.
But, women shed blood to originate it.
Yours sincerely
A concerned citizen, an emphathizing woman.
Reference : I would like to mention that i used this article to site some facets and figures : https://www.femina.in/trending/in-the-news/this-country-is-the-first-to-make-pads-and-tampons-free-for-all-women-149893.html