Anantnag, March 09: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Thursday launched the ‘My Pad My Right’ (MPMR) project in the Kokernag area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district to improve menstrual hygiene among women in rural areas. This is the first such project in the Kashmir region and was inaugurated by Deputy Commissioner (DC) Anantnag, Dr Basharat Qayoom along with CGM NABARD Dr A K Sood.
The project is an initiative of NABARD and its subsidiary NAB Foundation, and is being implemented through Women Self Help Groups to provide better livelihood and menstrual hygiene to women in rural areas through grants-in-aid, wage support and equipment.
Under the project, a free sanitary pad-making assembly machine, raw materials and wages for two months, packaging material with accessories and five-day training in three phases are provided to the SHG on a grant basis.
Speaking on the occasion, the DC highlighted the importance of menstrual hygiene and emphasized that awareness on the topic is important for achieving desired goals in public health. He congratulated the SHG group on using this opportunity to generate livelihood and exhorted other females of the area to associate with the project to augment their livelihood. He appreciated the efforts of NABARD for such a unique initiative.
CGM NABARD spoke about NABARD’s support to rural women, particularly SHGs, in employment generation. He discussed the dual objective of the project viz. menstrual hygiene and income generation.
Along the sidelines of the inauguration event, the medical camp was also inaugurated under the same project in which Dr Saima, Medical Officer, discussed several facets of menstrual health. She urged that there is a need to spread awareness among rural women, about the importance of educating their young daughters on menstruation before menarche, maintaining personal hygiene and use of sanitary pads in place of traditional methods.
On the occasion, free sanitary pads were distributed among the participants. The programme was attended by a large number of SHG members, panchayat representatives, besides officers from District Administration, NABARD, Health department, NRLM, Banks, etc.
