The government of India introduced the Goods and Service Tax (GST) in July 2017. But, when people looked a little closer into it, they found out that sanitary pads were also taxed. To add salt to the woundS, they were labelled as luxury products.
If the legislators would have simply asked any random menstruator whether periods and period products are a luxury, first they would’ve asked, “are you kidding?” followed by a resounding “f**k no“.
This led to lawmaker Sushmita Dev to launch a petition demanding the removal of said tax and over 4,00,000 people signed it. One year later, in 2018, the tax was scrapped; people closed this chapter and named it a win in their books.
Speaking on this, Surbhi Singh, founder of Sacchi Saheli, told Thomson Reuters Foundation that, “This was a most-awaited and necessary step to help girls and women to stay in school, their jobs, to practice proper menstrual hygiene…. This will help them to grow, to show their true potential.” India’s then interim finance minister, Piyush Goshal said, “I am sure all mothers and sisters will be very happy to hear that sanitary pads are now 100% exempt from tax,” to reporters in New Delhi.
Is it a win? Is it enough? Pads and tampons are, on an average, ₹8 each. Personally, I go through 2-3 pads depending on my flow that day, that makes it ₹16-24 per day, averaging this, it becomes ₹20 per day spent on pads.
The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) says that a household in rural India runs on ₹5000 rupees per month, i.e., ₹33 per day. How are they supposed to spend almost a third of their income on a menstrual product, when menstruation itself is considered “dirty”. This forces girls to reach for makeshift cloth pads, cloth pads are cheaper and last longer than disposable pads and are just as hygienic.
It is estimated that the cloth pads are shared by multiple members of the household, not cleaned in the correct way due to lack of access to or awareness of antibacterial washing liquids, and not sun-dried for fear of the cloth being seen by male members of the family, thus leading to reproductive tract illnesses.
How is this a win? At most, it’s a step in the right direction, but that’s all it is a step. We can not dust our hands and say, that’s that. Numerous government schemes have been introduced which provide pads at a subsidised rate, for example, Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) provide six pads for ₹6. The state government of Haryana launched a program which provided every woman aged 10 to 45 a free pack of pads every month which has come to a halt during the pandemic.
Schoolgirls can not even avail the monthly free pads they used to receive from their government schools because of the lockdown restrictions. Even as the lockdown is loosening, schools are nowhere near reopening. After a lot of small businesses have shut down, and low-income families are struggling, the women in the family are suffering as sanitary pads do not make a list for essentials in a patriarchal society.
Although the government initiatives are helpful, almost 60% school girls don’t have proper means of disposing of sanitary napkins available, and that they require to be changed at least twice a day, we reach another problem, that of waste management.
Both of these problems were tackled by the Alappuzha municipality. During the devastatingly destructive floods of Kerala in 2018, the women staying at relief centres found it difficult to dispose of the sanitary pads; in the end, the officials had to resort to burning them.
Within a year the municipality launched ‘Project Thinkal‘, which provided 5000 women with free menstrual cups manufactured by Hindustan latex limited. Menstrual cups, although a great solution to the rising problem of landfills being filled with tons of waste generated by the disposal of sanitary products is not widely available, except on e-commerce retailers.
One pad can be used for a maximum of 8 hours; one cup can be used for a minimum of 5 years. Even if the schools don’t have a proper water supply to clean the cups and reinsert them, a cup can be safely used for 10 hours at a stretch, so it provides girls with enough time to reach home.
Within the first two days, the municipality distributed menstrual cups to 287 women. The secretary of the civic body, Jahamgeer S, expects a reduction of disposed of pads by 39 Lakh units a year if 5000 women start using them.
Muhamma, a village in the same Alapuzzha district, saw 700 women giving up on using synthetic disposable pads after the Panchayat noticed large amounts of diapers and pads contaminated the canals. And hence within a year, they launched Muhammodyam, where they conducted workshops to educate women on using menstrual cups and ASHA workers even went door to door to explain and clarify any doubts. Now, 500 women have completely shifted to menstrual cups and reusable alternatives while the rest are in the process of transitioning. Muhamma is all set to become the first synthetic sanitary pad free village in India.
Imagine the size of the burden being taken off our landfills and our Earth if we all simply switched to menstrual cups and reusable pads. Just because we are used to pads doesn’t mean it is the be all end all answer to periods. It’s time to change the rules.