Bihar's Chief Minister Kishori Swasthya Yojana: Transforming Women's Health and Hygiene

Many schemes related to women's health are being run in Bihar under the leadership of Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar, one of them is the Chief Minister Kishori Swasthya Yojana. Under this, every school girl from class VII to XII is given money annually to buy sanitary napkins. Under this scheme, earlier Rs 150 were given to the girl students, which has now been increased to Rs 300 annually. It is worth noting that with the aim of promoting awareness towards cleanliness, Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar announced the distribution of sanitary napkins among girls in government schools in February 2015, after which the girls started carrying out their school routine easily and at the same time the drop out rate of girls has also come down.

In the year 2023, the state's first 'Myra' organic sanitary pad production unit has been established in Chausa block of Buxar district at a cost of Rs 60 lakh. It is being operated by women associated with Janani Jeevika Mahila Samuh. With its launch, the availability of sanitary pads has become easier in Buxar district. Also, the Jeevika didis working with this unit are writing the story of success by becoming self-reliant. Jeevika didis are constantly increasing the production capacity of this organic sanitary pad unit due to their hard work. This first sanitary pad unit of the state has 8 machines installed. 18 rural women have got employment in this unit. The specialty of this sanitary pad manufactured by Jeevika didis is that after use, it will melt and turn into soil when it comes in contact with soil. This will not cause any harm to the environment.

Due to the awareness campaign run by the Health Department, awareness about menstrual hygiene has increased a lot among the women of Bihar. Keeping in mind the convenience of women, sanitary pad vending machines have also been installed in many government hospitals of Bihar, so that sanitary pads can be easily available to women coming for treatment. Sanitary pads are being made available to women coming for treatment in government hospitals for just Rs 2.

According to a report, sanitary pads were first made during the First World War for the safety of soldiers. While making sanitary pads, special care was taken that it could easily absorb blood. Also, it could be easily destroyed after one use. According to the report, no one used sanitary pads before this. When it was made for soldiers in France, the nurses working there started using it even during periods. Based on the pads used in the war, in the year 1886, Johnson & Johnson Company started making sanitary pads under the name 'Listers Towels' and in the year 1888, a company named Cotex started making sanitary pads under the name 'Sanitary Towels for Ladies'. At that time, these pads were so expensive that common women could not afford them. Therefore, only women from rich families used them. With time, many changes took place in the form of sanitary napkins and slowly it became available for common women as well. Today, even rural women have started using sanitary pads. The increased availability of sanitary pads has improved the lifestyle of women.

Menstruation is a normal natural process. During this time, women have to take special care of cleanliness, otherwise the risk of infection increases. Keeping this in mind, the Bihar government has made the availability of sanitary pads easy for women. Even today, there is hesitation in society about sanitary pads. There is also an inferiority complex in society about women's periods. Even today, women do not worship or go to temples during periods. Keeping this in mind, a film called Pad Man has also been made on sanitary pads. The importance of sanitary pads has been explained in this film.