Orissa government to provide sanitary napkins to women prisoners

By Prasanna Mohanty

Bhubaneswar, March 13: Moving one more step forward to provide better living conditions to women prisoners in the state, Orissa government has started distributing sanitary napkins to them.

This move is being hailed in social circles as yet another step forward to provide better living conditions to women prisoners in the state.

"The state government has decided to provide one packet of sanitary napkins to each of the woman jail inmates every month so that they can meet their sanitary requirements," said state home secretary Tarunkanti Mishra said on Tuesday.

The state government's new humanitarian step follows reports from jail authorities that women prisoners were exposed to infection as they were compelled to use old clothes.
The move is not going to cost much to the state exchequer.

"The decision to supply sanitary napkins is not going to cost much to the coffer – only an additional Rs 1.38 lakh a month is required and the government has agreed to provide it. This amount is nothing considering the human dignity and value involved in it," Mr Mishra added.
Of the around 15,000 convicts and under-trial prisoners housed in 70 jails in the state, 492 are women. This includes 86 convicts.

At present, the government provides a bathing soap and a bottle of coconut oil to each woman prisoner every month. Besides, two pairs of clothes (saree, blouse and petticoat) are given to them annually.

The state government has been vigorously pursuing jail reform programmes since 2000. Jail inmates, both male and female, are taken to their respective places of worship on religious occasions. Children living with their parents in jail are getting education free of cost in government schools or educational institutes run by non-governmental organisations.
Welcoming the decision, human rights activist Swati Sucharita Patnaik said women jail inmates can now feel a little privileged.

"Indian women are very shy – they do not share many things, including some their natural biological occurrences, with male folks and suffer from consequent problems. When it comes to menstruation, most of the women do not divulge it to anybody other than their husbands. Although women behind the bars suffered from menstruation period problem, they did not dare to speak it out," said Ms Patnaik.

(Prasanna Mohanty is an eminent freelance journalist. He has proved his worth as the news editor of Oriya daily Pragativadi. Known for his eloquent political writing and catchy headlines, Mr Mohanty is one of the promising young journalists of the state)