Maharashtra to provide subsidised sanitary napkins to girl students, women from SHGs: Minister

BJP’s Bharati Lavekar demanded that sanitary napkins be provided free of cost and made available at ration shops.

The Maharashtra government will roll out a scheme within a month to provide sanitary napkins at a subsidised rate to school girls and women from self-help groups (SHGs), Rural Development Minister Girish Mahajan told the assembly on Friday.

Responding to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Namita Mundada during the question hour, Mr. Mahajan said the government is considering fixing the price of a packet of sanitary napkins at ₹1 for girl students.

Ms. Mundada said a programme – Asmita scheme – to provide a packet of 8 menstrual pads at ₹5 to rural female students was discontinued in 2022 and urged the government to restart it.

“We have now made a provision of ₹100 crore in the state budget and are considering reducing the price from ₹5 to ₹1. We are also working on how to expand the scope of the scheme to urban areas and how sanitary napkins can be made easily accessible,” Mr. Mahajan said.

The Minister said a final decision in this matter will be taken in a month’s time.

BJP’s Bharati Lavekar demanded that sanitary napkins be provided free of cost and made available at ration shops.

Congress MLA and former school education minister Varsha Gaikwad said the Asmita scheme was formulated when Pankaja Munde was the rural development minister from 2014 to 2019. She said all women legislators had given their feedback to safeguard the menstrual hygiene of young women.