Jamia students break taboos around period; create reusable sanitary pads, employ women from slum

New Delhi: Reshma, a resident of a slum in South Delhi, often wondered how sanitary napkins are made. Her inquisitiveness further increased when she learnt that menstrual pads can be made using natural products instead of plastic.

Now further into her exploration, she works at a unit manufacturing "reusable and environment-friendly" pads invented by a group of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) students.

The unit is spearheading a change in a locality in Madanpur Khadar's Shram Vihar where women do not talk about "lady's problems" in front of men, let alone manufacture sanitary products under their guidance.

"When bhaiya and didi came, we were very shy to speak about period in front of them but once we saw videos and learnt more about it, we became quite comfortable. Now I work on a hydraulic press which is used to prepare napkin core and I have become good at it," Reshma (35), who is one of the six women workers in the unit, said.

Shrimati napkin, which is prepared using bamboo and banana fibres, is reusable, environmentally friendly and can last for over a 12-period cycle, claim its inventors. The JMI students who are associated with Student Organisation Enactus Jamia Millia Islamia started working on the idea of reusable pads in 2019 and it took them over a year to finalise the product.

These napkins appear like typically reusable pads at first glance but what separates them from other similar products is the raw material.

The first layer is made of polar fleece and another layer of lycra. The absorbing part is composed of banana and bamboo fibres, which the students claim are their unique selling points (USP).

"We had four failed prototypes before reaching the final product. It took a lot of research and hard work to finally reach the final product. In the core, we have banana and bamboo fibres. The bamboo fibre is the core absorbent part of the napkin. The banana fibre gives it a structure and also has anti-bacterial properties," said Maham Sidique, Enactus vice president.

After finalising the product, the production of the napkins was the next task. Three customised machines were required and to get them, the students needed money. So they turned to multinational companies for donations. After presenting their ideas to several companies, the students were able to secure funding of over Rs 2.5 lakh.

"After finalising the product the major task was to buy customised machines. We got funding for machines as part of the CSR activities of a multinational company and got it fitted in the silai centre run by an NGO and started the production of the product," Enactus president and third-year JMI student Gaurav Chakraborty said.