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Supreme Court asks Centre to look into ground situation on menstrual hygiene in schools

New Delhi, November 16, 2024 (ANI): The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to clarify the aspects highlighted by the petitioner relating to ground situation on menstrual hygiene in schools before implementing the policy.

A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and Pankaj Mithal asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati look into the aspects highlighted by the petitioner, clarify the position by the next date of hearing and listed the matter for December 3.

"We request Aishwarya Bhati, the learned ASG to look into the aspects highlighted by the petitioner referred to above and clarify the position by the next date of hearing," the top court said on November 12.

The top court was informed that Union of India has framed National Policy as regards "Menstrual Hygiene for School Going Girls".

The policy talks about the vision, the objections, the target the policy components the current programmes and in the last the rules and responsibilities of the stakeholders.

ASG Aishwarya Bhati submitted that still much is required to be done for proper and effective implementation of the policy.

The ASG informed the Court that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare shall coordinate with the States/UTs for drawing up their respective action plans ensuring that all aspects of Menstrual Hygiene Policy are drawn up in a comprehensive manner enabling effective roll out of the policy for school going girls of Government and Government-Aided Schools.

On the other hand, the counsel for the petitioner submitted that the policy framed by the Union of India in no manner takes care of the reliefs prayed for in the petition. Apart from this, according to the counsel, there are glaring inconsistencies in the data relied upon in the policy documents.

The counsel pointed out that the government affidavit stated that "this improvement is largely due to increased awareness and accessibility of sanitary products, with 64.5 per cent of girls using sanitary napkins, 49.3 per cent using cloth and 15.2 per cent using locally prepared napkins."

According to the counsel appearing for the petitioner, the said data is incorrect as the total of all the three categories comes to 129 percent.

According to the counsel, if the data relied upon by the Union of India for the purpose of framing the policy is incorrect, it will be difficult to achieve the objectives.

Counsel for petitioner submitted that the Union of India be directed to correct its data and ascertain as far as possible the ground situation prevailing across the country before finalizing the policy and implementing the same.The counsel for the petitioner highlighted that the policy has been framed without obtaining the necessary information or rather without assessing the ground situation.

The counsel for petitioner brought to the court's notice that during the recent visit of the petitioner to District Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, the petitioner found that there were no peons in the schools and there was nothing like housekeeping in government middle schools.

The petitioner also enquired with different people residing in various districts and found that the situation was very grim.

The petitioner further said that there are no facilities to provide sanitary pads in District Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, especially in middle schools (age between 12 to 15 years) and in case if any girl would need the same, the school would ask the girl to go home.The court was hearing a plea seeking to issue directions to governments to provide free sanitary pads to girls studying in Classes 6 to 12.

The plea has been moved by social activist Jaya Thakur through advocates Varinder Kumar Sharma and Varun Thakur.

The petitioner said that serious difficulty is faced by adolescent females between the ages of 11 and 18 years coming from poor backgrounds.

"These are adolescent females who are not equipped with and are also not educated by their parents about menstruation and menstrual hygiene.

The deprived economic status and illiteracy leads to the prevalence of unhygienic and unhealthy practices which has serious health consequences; increases obstinacy and leads to eventual dropping out from schools," the petitioner said.

Henceforth, in the plea, the petitioner has sought to issue directions to provide the separate girl toilet in all Government, Aided and residential schools and to issue directions to provide one cleaner in all Government, Aided and residential schools to clean the toilets.

The plea also sought to issue a writ order or directions in the nature of mandamus to the Respondents to provide three-stage awareness programme i.e.

Firstly, the spreading of awareness about menstrual health and unboxing the taboos that surround it; Secondly, providing adequate sanitation facilities and subsidised or free sanitary products to women and young students, especially in disadvantaged areas; thirdly, to ensure an efficient and sanitary manner of menstrual waste disposal.

In India, right to health derives from the Directive Principles of State Policy and is an established right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India which guarantees the right to life and dignity, the petition said.

The ability to manage menstruation in a hygienic manner is fundamental to the dignity and well-being of women, especially in a democratic society. It constitutes an integral component of basic hygiene, sanitation, and reproductive health services.

Inadequate menstrual hygiene management compromises girls' education, health, and well-being.

Therefore, efforts to address these inadequacies must involve provision of sanitation and hygiene facilities along with creating an enabling social and physical environment that addresses all menstruation-related needs, the petition said. (ANI)