Devika Chhipa Kumar,
a Grade 12 student at Westwood
High School in Austin,
Texas, has installed a sanitary
pad manufacturing machine in Rajasthan,
as part of her Girl Scout project.
Devika raised money from friends, relatives,
and others to install the machine,
which was invented by a Tamil Nadu man
named Arunachalam Muruganantham.
Making six sanitary pads in 15 minutes,
Devika’s machine will benefit women in
five villages in the Dityakheri panchayat of
Rajasthan, providing them with affordable
sanitary pads. It will also provide a source of
income for the handful of women who are
being trained to operate the machine.
Devika and her parents have traveled
around the villages to educate women on
menstrual hygiene.
“I want to sensitize the rural women in
my father’s homeland, where menstruation
is still believed to be taboo,” Devika told the
Hindustan Times. “The use of sanitary pads is
not widespread either, mostly due to their
unavailability and unaffordability.”
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? Please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]