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The force with which the evil arrived on earth, locking up people in their houses and killing many, appeared incomprehensible to Arunachalam Muruganantham. Perhaps, that could be why he calls COVID an ‘Asura’, a power-seeking demon that always battles the benign deities, according to Hindu mythology. “No one could have thought that Corona would crumble the whole world,” he said.
As for most, it brought down his world too, for, in many ways, he was back to square one. Unfortunately for him, this was a few days after he was awarded businessline’s Iconic Changemaker Award in 2020. Muruganantham, popularly known as ‘Padman’, is a social entrepreneur who makes low-cost sanitary napkins, particularly for rural women. The goal was to stop them from following unsanitary practices during menstruation and break the taboo around periods.
The journey was arduous. He was ridiculed, called a pervert and a lunatic, and was even ostracised by his wife and immediate family. After several attempts, beginning in 1998, he succeeded in making a leak-free, affordable sanitary napkin in 2005. Acceptance came to Muruganantham quite late and he shot to fame in 2018 when R Balki made a film titled Padman, based on his life. Akshay Kumar essayed the role of Muruganantham. Now, Muruganantham runs Jayaashree Industries, a company in Coimbatore that manufactures sanitary napkin-making machines.
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Fearing the worst
Everything came to a standstill on March 25, 2020, the first day of the nationwide Covid lockdown. People’s movements were restricted, some worked from home, while countless others abruptly lost their jobs. Muruganantham says that that period was grim, especially for menstruators, and that many of them whom he knew, went back to using dirty rags during their cycle.
“I was devastated. For once, it seemed all my efforts was going down the drain,” he says. “It doesn’t matter if they lived in a containment zone or not, no one cared about what women went through during their periods. The pervasive taboo around menstruation led women to hesitate seeking assistance from male family members to buy sanitary napkins,” he adds.
Around this time, Murugnantham turned quite vocal, urging the Centre to declare sanitary napkins an essential commodity. At around the time of Padman’s release, the Centre announced a GST exemption on sanitary napkins. “All this made India a frontrunner in spreading awareness about menstrual hygiene. All this effort might go to waste if we don’t take necessary follow-up steps now,” he said in March 2020.
Subsequently, toward the end of March 2020, during the lockdown, the Ministry of Home Affairs added sanitary napkins as an essential item.
Bouncing back
Amidst the chaos and uncertainty, Muruganantham asserts that he and his team never stopped producing sanitary napkins. “There was a brief halt in between when the women in our units stopped working during the pandemic. However, we were adamant on continuing what we were doing. We pushed ourselves harder,” he says. In fact, he says that they set up more manufacturing units during that time.
Muruganantham’s pads were a hit in rural India, primarily due to their affordability. He says that a pad costs somewhere between ₹1 and ₹3. “We do not follow a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Periods differ from person to person. Some may bleed heavily throughout their cycle, but for others that could occur for just a couple of days. That’s how we make our products. Women can buy them from pad makers, depending on their needs,” he says, while not missing an opportunity to criticise MNCs for packaging a bunch of napkins of the same kind. “I have brought the cost of the machine and the product down and spread the message far and wide, without a dealer, distributor or a brand ambassador,” he says, proudly.
The Changemaker awards will take place in New Delhi on November 3. The presenting partner of the event is Sastra University.Associate Partners: Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Casagrand, Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, Punjab & Sind Bank, United India Insurance; Banking Partner: J&K Bank; Online Grocery Partner: Big Basket; Tourism Partner: Bihar Tourism; Television Partner: NewsX; Knowledge Partner: Ashoka & Deloitte; Validation Partner: Niti Consulting.
Watch the event live here.
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