Kerala government set to roll out menstrual-cup campaign first time in country

The Left government in Kerala is getting ready to address the issue of the accumulation of enormous quantities of biodegradable waste generated by napkins in the environment and reduce it by offering a sustainable alternative- menstrual cups.

The government will soon kickstart a revolutionary drive at the grassroot level to promote menstrual cups among women and has set aside Rs 10 crore for the same.

Sustainable and cost-effective alternative for sanitary napkins, the menstrual cups alias M-Cups are reusable containers to collect period fluid.Finance Minister K N Balagopal, in his February 3 budget speech, had announced the state government intends to promote the M-Cups instead of sanitary napkins.

”Awareness programmes and campaigns will be conducted at government level in schools, colleges and workplaces. An amount of Rs 10 crore is earmarked for this,” he had said.

Balagopal added it would be a large-scale initiative in the areas of environmental protection and menstrual hygiene management.

”Kerala may be the first state in the country which comes up with such a massive campaign to promote sustainable alternatives for non-biodegradable sanitary napkins,” he said.