New Delhi: Union minister for drinking water and sanitation, Uma Bharti, has announced that along with the minister for textiles and information and broadcasting, Smriti Irani, and the women and child development minister, Maneka Gandhi, she has decided to look into the problem of menstrual hygiene by directing secretaries of these ministries to look into all aspects of the issue and to come up with recommendations.

Addressing this issue at a function here, Ms Bharti said that the secretaries of the three ministries have been asked to collectively look at all aspects.

“Menstrual hygiene is an integral part of the sanitation programme of the government. This team of officials will go into all the aspects of manufacturing sanitary napkins; their low cost availability; and their hygienic disposal,” she said. The announcement by Ms Bharti comes just a few days ahead of the launch of the ‘YesIBleed,’ a nationwide campaign by SheWings.

“The reason I decided to work in this sector was to create a truly holistic approach to menstruation through integration of ethical business practices and culturally sensitive, life-affirming education about menstrual experience,” said Subodh Gupta, the patron of SheWings. Ravi Shankar, the co-founder of SheWings, said the campaign was conceptualised to promote awareness about menstrual hygiene through the youth of the country. Madan Mohit Bhardwaj, the co-founder of SheWings, said that having open conversations with women as well as men is the key to promote awareness about the issue.