On the occasion of International Women's Day, Maharashtra government will attempt to remove the taboo associated with the topic of menstrual hygiene with increased awareness by launching Asmita Yojana. The scheme will be formally launched on March 8
Objective of the scheme
- The scheme will be launched with an objective of providing sanitary napkin packets at Rs. 5 to the girls of Zilla Parishad schools.
- The women of rural areas can avail at sanitary napkin packets at Rs. 24 and Rs. 29
Launch
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar will be present at the launch. Akshay Kumar's recently released film “Padman” envisaged to create awareness about menstrual hygiene among rural women.Background
Asmita Yojana was launched in 2017 by Women and Child and Rural Development Minister Pankaja Munde to awareness about hygiene during periods among girls in the age group of 11 to 19 years and women in general in rural areas of Maharashtra. The state government has appointed “Umed’- the Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission, as a nodal agency for effective implementation of the schemeImplementation
- Beneficiary girls will be given “Asmita Cards”.
- Participating Self Help Groups (SHGs) will be entitled to the task of the supply and sale of sanitary pads and counselling the girls and women.
- Hygiene campaign will also be launched across the state to increase awareness among young girls on the usage of sanitary pads.
- Creation of employment opportunities for women in rural areas and create awareness about health and education
