PADMAN IMPACT ON ASSAM BUDGET : 30 CRORE FOR THE PURCHASE OF SANITARY NAPKINS

Monthly stipend for the purchase of sanitary napkins for women has been proposed in the Budget.The government aimed at improving women's health and safeguard the dignity . Keeping in view that in the 21st century most of the women from Assam cannot consistently access or afford the monthly cost of disposable menstrual products and revert to less hygienic solutions. The government aims at providing necessary health education for girls as they reach the reproductive age. Therefore the Finance Minister announced a policy to ensure ease of access to disposable sanitary napkins. Himanta Biswa Sarma also said that girls between the age of 12-20 years and whose family income is below Rs 5 lakhs can avail of a annual allowance of Rs 600, which will be directly transferred to her account where all the registrations will be done through Block Development Offices. The accounts will be linked through their date of birth and payments will automatically stopped once they reach the age of 20. The scheme will encourage the use of sanitary products and create awareness among the girls. The finance minister further added that five lakhs girls will be covered during this financial year 2018-19 for which designated fund of Rs.30 crore have been kept for this scheme in this project.