Bhopal railway station becomes the first Indian railway station in the favor of women. This station installed an automated sanitary napkin dispenser. The dispenser – named as “Happy Nari”, was installed on January 1, 2018. This is considered as the best gift for women travelers.
img source- timesof india.com
How does work Happy Nari:-
In just nine hours of installation, the machine has dispensed over 600 sanitary pads. The machine is installed on platform no. 1 of the Bhopal Railway Station. With the help of Railway Women Welfare association and a local NGO named Arushi.
[the_ad id=”3627″]
The machine has a capacity of storing 75 pads at once, which will be refilled by a specially trained female staff attendant. The machine sells two napkins at a cost of Rs 5.
A senior most grade four officer of the railway station Anjali Thakur inaugurated the dispenser. She cut the ribbon and put a five rupee coin and withdrew napkins.
img source- gogleimage
The station will also have an incinerator for safe disposal of used sanitary napkins. As per railway officials, more than 2000 napkins has been withdrawn from the machine in just 3 days.
Drive to conduct sanitary napkin vending machines in India
Concerning the health and welfare of women, a number of health schemes have been introduced by the government. Last year, Kerala became the first state to install the sanitary napkin vending machines in government schools.
[the_ad id=”3627″]
Supreme Court of India will also install sanitary napkin vending machines, which will help a number of women lawyers and litigants in uncomfortable situations.
Upcoming Bollywood movie “Padman” starring Akshay Kumar is based on this issue o women menstrual hygiene. The film is based on a real-life story of Arunachalam Muruganatham, a Tamil Nadu based social activist who revolutionized the concept of menstrual hygiene in rural India by creating a low-cost sanitary napkin machine. The film is set to release on 9 Feb 2018 worldwide.
Source- Wikipedia
In a country like India, where menstruation is still considered a taboo and millions of women still do not have access to hygienic sanitary napkins and rely on old, unhygienic pads for their monthly periods, initiatives like these are welcome.