In 2017, Akshay Kumar starred in Toilet: Ek Prem Katha . In 2018, he played the lead in Pad M an. In 2019, With the Centre declaring that the country is open defecation-free, Bollywood actor issued an urgent plea for menstrual hygiene to get the same attention as household sanitation got through the Centre’s flagship Swachh Bharat scheme.
“Menstruation and periods are still taboo words, just like toilets used to be before the Prime Minister’s [Narendra Modi] speech at Red Fort on Independence Day 2014. We need a movement, a jan andolan like this in order to change that,” said Mr. Kumar at the release of a book on the Swachh Bharat journey on Saturday.
He shared a personal story to show the seriousness of the issue. “My niece’s friend had come to stay with her for a few days, although she lived quite nearby, he said. When asked for the reason, his niece explained that her friend’s family was doing a puja in their home. As she was having her period, they asked the girl to leave the home and stay away for a few days. “This is the kind of thing happening in Mumbai today. Then imagine what it is like for women in other parts of the country,” he said.
Drinking Water and Sanitation Secretary Parameswaran Iyer noted that menstrual waste management was a key element of the second phase of Swachh Bharat. UNICEF’s India representative Yasmin Haque emphasised that any campaign to improve menstrual hygiene and awareness needed the kind of public investment that Swachh Bharat recieved. Apart from greater awareness, technology research budgets were needed to develop affordable, high quality, sustainable sanitary products for girls and women. This would not only help to empower half the population, but would lead to immense improvements in health and environment for all, she added.
