Create Awareness On Periods and Provide Employment to Rural Women
Jamia Milia Islamia, the central University in New Delhi which was established during the British Raj period is now undergoing a new venture. The students of this prestigious institution are developing reusable, eco-friendly sanitary pads to eradicate the taboo around menstruation. The students selected slum women to help them carry out the campaign and earn some money. The JMI students also established a reusable, environmentally friendly pad manufacturing facility.
The group is driving change in a region in Madanpur Khadar’s Shram Vihar where women don’t discuss “lady’s affairs” in front of men, but now sanitary napkins are manufactured with their help. The creators of the Shrimati napkin assert that it is reusable, environmentally benign, and may survive for more than a 12-period cycle. It is made from banana and bamboo fibres.
The pads are made from banana and bamboo fibres
One of the women workers of the unit, Reshma pointed out “When bhiaya and didi came, we were very shy to speak about the period in front of them but once we saw videos and learnt more about it, we became quite comfortable. Now I work on a hydraulic press which is used to prepare napkin core and I have become good at it,” Students of JMI who are part of the student organisation Enactus Jamia Millia Islamia began developing the idea for reusable pads in 2019, and it took them more than a year to complete the product. These napkins resemble normal reusable pads, however, their basic material distinguishes them from other similar items.
Polar fleece and lycra are used for the first and second layers, respectively. The students believe that their distinctive selling characteristics are the banana and bamboo fibres that make up the absorbent portion (USP).
Maham Sidique, the Vice President of Enactus explained “We had four failed prototypes before reaching the final product. It took a lot of research and hard work to finally reach the final product. In the core, we have banana and bamboo fibres. The bamboo fibre is the core absorbent part of the napkin. The banana fibre gives it a structure and also has anti-bacterial properties”
The creation of the napkins was the next task after the product had finished. The students needed money to purchase the three customised machines. Therefore, they asked multinational companies for donations. The students were successful in obtaining funding of more than Rs 2.5 lakh after pitching their ideas to a range of companies. Third-year student and Enactus President Gaurav Chakraborty commented “After finalising the product the major task was to buy customised machines. We got funding for machines as part of the CSR activities of a multinational company and got it fitted in the silai centre run by an NGO and started the production of the product.”
Twenty-two students are working on this project. Teams of three to four students had joined a group. Production is handled by one group, while marketing is handled by another, and so forth. The students expressed their hope that their actions would end the restrictions and taboos associated with menstruation. It involves a better offer to those underprivileged women to get these pads for a low cost of twenty-five rupees each.
The Jamia students are anxious to start selling their products in the following months. They are raising money from a variety of sources, including fundraisers, competition participation, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) of businesses.”We are targeting environment-conscious collegegoers. Another target audience for us is the rural population who cannot afford sanitary napkins and don’t have better alternatives. We are hoping that our product will excel there as well,” Chakraborty said. In addition, the students are organising numerous donation drives to spread the word about their product and the importance of menstrual health.
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