Women activists pitch for no tax on sanitary pads
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, May 28
On the occasion of Menstrual Hygiene Day, city women expressed their desire that sanitary pads must be made tax-free. The day is meant to create awareness about menstruation and women hygiene. Jeevan Jyot, also known as ‘Padwoman’ for her activities to provide reusable sanitary napkins, said, “There should be no tax on sanitary pads. We live in country where bindi and sindoor are made tax free, but not sanitary pads. Even the other options available have been taxed too.” She also held a seminar at a local school and took part in a walk in Delhi to create awareness about menstruation.
Pearl Jasra, founder of IVE Children, an NGO, who has been working actively in holding counselling sessions and free medical camps about the menstrual hygiene and health among teenage girls and women living in slum areas, said, “We have been working in this direction. If the tax is abolished, it shall decrease the prices and make it more accessible.”
Urging that the government must form councils in schools to distribute free santinary pads to girls students in order to form a habit of using them and removal of taxes, Laxmi Kanta Chawla said, “Governments must work to provide them at an affordable price at their own end or it should be free of cost.”
