mumbai

Updated: Feb 23, 2018 16:19 IST

Interested in sponsoring sanitary napkins for school students in rural Maharashtra? You can now visit the state women and children development department’s ‘Asmita scheme’ portal (https://mahaasmita.mahaonline.gov.in/) and pay Rs182.40 for a year’s supply of pads.

On Thursday, the women and child development department launched a portal for the scheme that the cabinet approved of this month.

“For people interested in promoting better health care for young girls, we have made the process easier. All you have to do is visit our portal and sponsor a child online,” said Pankaja Munde, women and child development minister.

“We decided to launch the scheme after we realised that the penetration of sanitary napkins was as low as 17%. I found that school girls in Maharashtra miss up to 40 days a year because of a lack of access and money to buy sanitary napkins. This had to change,” she said.

Under the scheme, girls will be given ‘Asmita’ sanitary napkins produced by global agencies and procured through state’s UMED — Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission. Self-help groups will distribute and sell the napkins for a subsidised cost of Rs5 for a pack of eight. The government will pay a subsidy of Rs15.29 for every pack.

A packet of eight napkins will cost rural women Rs24 or Rs29, depending on the size. All the girls and women will be given Asmita cards.

The state government plans to formally launch the scheme on March 8, Women’s Day, by inviting actor Akshay Kumar, who recently essayed the role of social entrepreneur and activist Arunachalam Muruganantham in the movie ‘Padman’.