THE PAD SQUAD

Actor-poet Taranjit Kaur and film producer Chhitra Subramaniam have launched a lockdown initiative to donate sanitary pads to women in need

- Manvi Pant

Lockdown 2020 has dealt a blow to almost all industries, more so arts and entertainment. Amidst all this, two women from the Indian film industry – actor and poet Taranjit Kaur and producer Chhitra Subramaniam – joined hands and took upon themselves the social responsibility to source and distribute sanitary pads to economically disadvantaged women. They called themselves the Pad Squad.

Ever since their campaign was launched in June this year, Pad Squad has distributed close to 5 lakh pads. The movement is supported by 58 Pad Squadders all over India operating in 25 cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Kalimpong and more. With the support of grassroot NGOs, it has reached diverse communities – from slums in Mumbai, sex workers and orphanages in Kolkata, specially abled girls in Bengaluru, to affected indigenous artists in Rajasthan, and tribals in Palghar.

In the wake of the pandemic, when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 25, it did not initially include sanitary napkins in the list of essential items exempted from production and distribution restrictions. Though menstrual products were later added to the essential-items list, the production of sanitary napkins had gone into a significant halt by then, with partially operational factories and high absenteeism. In a situation where even higher income households struggled to find a way to meet the shortage, the severity felt in semi-urban and rural areas was appalling.