The Centre has decided to rope in women groups in a big way in the rural areas to popularise the manufacture and sale of low-cost sanitary napkins.
Seven groups have started making the napkins each costing Re.1 in Uttarakhand and Punjab. “We want to replicate the success story across the length and breadth of the country,” Chander Mohan, Head of Science for Equity Empowerment and Development (SEED), a special project under the Department of Science & Technology, told The Hindu. He was here to interact with students on internship preparation organised recently by the IEEE and Institute of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.
Dr. Mohan said during past two years they could produce one lakh napkins and this year it was expected to double due to thrust on increasing its reach.
After the new government at the Centre decided to lay special emphasis on SEED, the allocation had been increased to Rs.14 crore to encourage partner-NGOs to develop and popularise low-cost technologies to solve problems relating to health, hygiene, sanitation, food, children well-being and other basic needs.
A special division for SEED was formed with the broad objective to provide opportunities to motivate scientists and grassroots workers for socio-economic uplift of the poor and the disadvantaged sections. Tie-up with premier research institutes like IIT and Indian Institute of Science was also being explored.
Dr. Mohan said one of their achievements was popularising the low-cost lighting by distributing LED bulbs which provide 100 watts lighting with minimal power consumption in the slums.
“We are also encouraging women to form technology parks in the rural areas to discuss and identify their problems which could be solved through technological intervention,” he said. So far 30 such parks were set up to improve basic infrastructure.
