BHARATI PAWASKAR
It was the urge to be an entrepreneur in her own small way that pushed Supriya Ketkar, a homemaker from Ponda to initiate women from her maternal village Valpoi to take the leap along with her and steal the credit to be the first in Goa to manufacture eco-friendly, biodegradable sanitary napkins locally. Googling the Central government schemes for women self-help groups, Supriya managed to zero upon this scheme and take it forward by bringing together local women from Valpoi to form a self-help group “ Muktai Mahila Self Help Group that happens to be the first Village Level Enterprise (VLE) to run the project ‘Stree Swabhiman’ in Goa.
Explaining that Stree Swabhiman initiative is a part of the Common Service Centres Schemes (CSCS) launched by the ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, government of India, Supriya adds, “Its aim is to create sustainable model for providing adolescent girls and women an access to affordable sanitary products. Based at Brahmakaramali, Valpoi, our (Muktai Mahila Self Help Group) is one of the many self-help groups running this project in India. But in Goa we are the first to implement it. Six of our members - are actively involved in manufacturing process that kick-started on November 1 last year.”
Supriya is happy that some of the pharmacies and general super stores, Patanjali outlets and Goa Bagayatdar are patronising them at the moment. “We wish to take this awareness to the next level and involve more people in the process. With the help of CSC’s promotional activities fund, we are visiting schools in rural areas like Valpoi and distributing free sanitary napkins to school girls. We will be visiting the rural schools first and then the city schools,” shares Supriya.
The schools can purchase wending machines manufactured by Common Service Centres (CSC) that are designed to offer single piece of napkin when a coin is inserted in it. “CSC helps us to promote the product and designs wending machines which can be fitted in schools. Most of these machines are designed to accept a five rupee coin, and since our price is Rs 7, which is an odd figure, there is technical problem. Hence we need semi-automatic wending machines which accept multiple coins. These are slightly expensive. At the moment most of the schools insist on the regular ones that accept Rs 5 coin. But I am hopeful that once our product becomes popular, schools will not hesitate to invest in semi-automatic wending machines,” Supriya states.
She points out that these napkins are easy to dispose “ just wrap in a paper and throw away in solid waste, incinerate or bury. Muktai Group has Pranali Gadgil as the president with Sanjana Sawant, Tanuja Sawant, Chaya Gaonkar, Pratima Pingulkar, Ujwala Gaonkar, Roshan Gade and Shanti Wankar on the board with Supriya as the secretary. The group came into being on February 20, 2018 and began manufacturing from November 1. They can manufacture 1000 packets per month with 8 pads in one packet costing Rs 55. Initially the group was trained by the CSC personnel and then they began working on the project after making some corrections in the product.
For Supriya the word period is no longer a taboo. She deliberates, “As both women and men have spoken out about menstrual health in recent times and there has been quite a lot of awareness on this topic through films and other social media outlets.” She points out that most brands of sanitary napkins available in the market are unfortunately plastic based which is detrimental to environment and harmful to women health.
“It is a huge environmental challenge as these pads take around 500-800 years to bio-degrade,” feels Supriya who has taken a positive step in contributing towards the conservation of ecosystem.
According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2015-16 report the menstrual waste collected across the country is around 45 per cent. If these pads are burnt, it results into production of dioxin and phuron which again, are toxic and invitations to many diseases. “There are high chances of getting fungal infections due to collection of moisture. Plastic based sanitary pads can also lead to pelvic infections, causing irritation and allergies,” states Supriya.
Methods are being adopted to dispose sanitary napkins through disposal machines but this method is expensive. As a measure to curb the damage being done to the environment, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has launched bio-degradable sanitary napkin called ‘Stree Swabhiman’ under the Common Service Centre (CSC) scheme. Its aim is to create a sustainable model for providing adolescent girls and women an easy access to affordable sanitary products and Muktai Mahila Self Help Group is one of the many women self-help groups running this project in India, leading towards a better India.
(Muktai Mahila Self Help Group welcomes feedback and suggestions from people on 9403175694 / 9420979588)
Box 1
>> Stree Swabhiman sanitary napkins are bio-degradable, combustible, chemical free, use of eco-friendly adhesive, lease possible use of plastic
>> Maiden project of Muktai Mahila SHG which initiated the first Stree Swabhiman Project in Goa
>> A village enterprise making eco-friendly and Swadeshi sanitary napkins
>> An initiative run for the health of women by the rural women self-help groups, good quality and reasonable rates
-------------
Box 2
>> Size “ 280 mmx72 mm
>> Absorption capacity “ 80 ml
>> Ultra thin
>> Use of gel technology
>> Safe for health
