-The Hindu If a creditable scheme to promote menstrual health hygiene is not to become an environmental hazard, distributing biodegradable products is a must In June 2010, the Centre approved an unprecedented scheme to promote menstrual health by distributing subsidised sanitary pads among adolescent girls. Priced at Rs.1 each, the pads were targeted at 15 million girls between the years of 10 and 19, and across 152 districts in 20 States. It...

-Open the Magazine   Villagers saw him cleaning his undergarments stained with goat blood and thought he had a sexual disease. But Arunachalam Muruganantham was only trying to make a smart, cheap sanitary pad for his wife I am perhaps the only man to have ever worn a sanitary napkin. I am the only man who understands what a woman endures during those days. The wetness. The discomfort. The constant fear of stains....

Muhammad Yunus, the economist who founded Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank, visited Mumbai recently where he spoke to India Ink about his vision of “social businesses,” his forced departure from Grameen and the recent controversies that have dogged micro-finance in India and elsewhere. An edited, condensed version of the interview follows: Q. The microfinance industry has gone through an existential crisis in the last few years. Why did the industry fall from grace? A. See,...

-IANS   In order to promote personal hygene among young rural girls, Tamil Nadu launched distribution of free Sanitary Napkins to girls in the age group of 10 to 19 in all the villages. In a statement issued here Friday by the government, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has ordered distribution of free Sanitary Napkins to young girls as well as lactating mothers and women prisoners across the state at an annual outlay of...

-The Hindu   The Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat has launched an ambitious project to improve personal hygiene among women with the launch of a project to manufacture low-cost Sanitary Napkins. Ten members of the Isiri Self-Help Group (SHG) at Layla village of Belthangady taluk were trained by an NGO to manufacture Sanitary Napkins with cotton made from wood pulp. The Sanitary Napkins were less than half an inch thick and were called Safety...