The Naveen Patnaik government on Monday launched “Khushi”, a scheme to provide free sanitary napkins to schoolgirls across Odisha.
“Under the scheme, the State will provide free sanitary napkins to 17 lakh girls in government and government-aided schools from Class VI to XII,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik while launching the initiative at the State Secretariat here.
Women empowerment
Stating that his “government is always committed to the empowerment of women”, Mr. Patnaik said, “From Mission Shakti (for economic empowerment) to MAMATA (a maternity benefit scheme) to 50% reservation (in local bodies), women have been the focal point of all our key interventions.”
In addition to this, Mr. Patnaik said that the government will also expand social marketing of sanitary napkins for women and girls in the community at subsidised rates.
