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Daan Utsav or the Joy Of Giving Week (Oct 2-8) is in its 11th edition this year and just like always millions of people will indulge in acts of kindness and donate whatever they can. Mumbai’s Pad Squad, is all set to be a part of this too.
In just a span of four months, four lakh sanitary pads have been distributed among underprivileged across 24 cities by 54 volunteer Pad Squaders across the country. This kind of service to the community in such a short period of time, despite the ongoing pandemic situation, was made possible by seven women from different sections of the entertainment industry. They are not part of any NGO or any official organisation, but have worked passionately in the last few months towards helping other women selflessly. What makes it special is that most of these 54 volunteers have gone to the slums, bastis, communities and personally handed over the pads.
It began with a facebook group created by filmmaker-screenwriter Devashish Makhija in April 2020, that took up relief work during the pandemic. There were a lot of people there from the entertainment industry including Chhitra Subramanium, Taranjit Kaur, Mayuri Joshi Dhavle, Gillian Pinto, Niiya Kumar, Surya Balakrishnan, Monica Raheja, Niiya Kumar and Shillpi A Singh.
Chhitra says, “We gave rations to underprivileged, adopted bastis. With the help of others in the iflm industry I arranged for 16 vanity-van-bathrooms from Dharavi to Dahisar for women in the police force who were on the frontline.”
Taranjit adds, “While I slowly realised that food, of course, is a priority among underprivileged, menstrual hygiene was being neglected. I realised the gravity of this situation and started buying sanitary pads and distributing it among the women and girls in the nearest slum. The need was ever-growing, and our team, working on ground and backend in the relief work, got together and put their hearts and minds into how to scale it up and take it to every nook and corner of the country.”
What began has a simple idea to help provide sanitary napkins to those who can’t afford it has become a big movement with many participants. Chhitra says, “We were giving away pads to underprivileged women in slums and then decided to ask people to donate pads online for the cause. We were overwhelmed with the response we got.”
Taranjit adds, “In a few days my house was flooded with pads that people sent from all over the world for underprivileged women.” And then there was no looking back. The PadSquad movement was born because of like-minded individuals (mentioned above).
In the last four months many from across India have come forward to support this as a people’s movement. By July they went 80 per cent bio-degradable and now they are looking at cloth pads and menstrual cups as well. There is not one fit solution, and the team is looking at the comfort of the communities.
“We are out there to serve women and girls who can’t afford to buy a pack of sanitary pad and we are also looking for solutions on how to save the environment,” says Taranjit.
Chhitra adds, “Even one pad and you are helping one person. It’s appalling to know that just a few kms away from Mumbai there are tribal communities who use cow dung, hay, straw, leaves during menstruation leading to multiple health issues. If every society can keep an old carton in their lobby, people can donate pads there through the month and then the entire box can be donated to the underprivileged. We are calling this the ‘Daan pad peti campaign, a pad peti for every beti’. It becomes a self-sustainable initiative then and that is the need of the hour.”
In just a span of four months, four lakh sanitary pads have been distributed among underprivileged across 24 cities by 54 volunteer Pad Squaders across the country. This kind of service to the community in such a short period of time, despite the ongoing pandemic situation, was made possible by seven women from different sections of the entertainment industry. They are not part of any NGO or any official organisation, but have worked passionately in the last few months towards helping other women selflessly. What makes it special is that most of these 54 volunteers have gone to the slums, bastis, communities and personally handed over the pads.
It began with a facebook group created by filmmaker-screenwriter Devashish Makhija in April 2020, that took up relief work during the pandemic. There were a lot of people there from the entertainment industry including Chhitra Subramanium, Taranjit Kaur, Mayuri Joshi Dhavle, Gillian Pinto, Niiya Kumar, Surya Balakrishnan, Monica Raheja, Niiya Kumar and Shillpi A Singh.
Chhitra says, “We gave rations to underprivileged, adopted bastis. With the help of others in the iflm industry I arranged for 16 vanity-van-bathrooms from Dharavi to Dahisar for women in the police force who were on the frontline.”
Taranjit adds, “While I slowly realised that food, of course, is a priority among underprivileged, menstrual hygiene was being neglected. I realised the gravity of this situation and started buying sanitary pads and distributing it among the women and girls in the nearest slum. The need was ever-growing, and our team, working on ground and backend in the relief work, got together and put their hearts and minds into how to scale it up and take it to every nook and corner of the country.”
What began has a simple idea to help provide sanitary napkins to those who can’t afford it has become a big movement with many participants. Chhitra says, “We were giving away pads to underprivileged women in slums and then decided to ask people to donate pads online for the cause. We were overwhelmed with the response we got.”
Taranjit adds, “In a few days my house was flooded with pads that people sent from all over the world for underprivileged women.” And then there was no looking back. The PadSquad movement was born because of like-minded individuals (mentioned above).
In the last four months many from across India have come forward to support this as a people’s movement. By July they went 80 per cent bio-degradable and now they are looking at cloth pads and menstrual cups as well. There is not one fit solution, and the team is looking at the comfort of the communities.
“We are out there to serve women and girls who can’t afford to buy a pack of sanitary pad and we are also looking for solutions on how to save the environment,” says Taranjit.
Chhitra adds, “Even one pad and you are helping one person. It’s appalling to know that just a few kms away from Mumbai there are tribal communities who use cow dung, hay, straw, leaves during menstruation leading to multiple health issues. If every society can keep an old carton in their lobby, people can donate pads there through the month and then the entire box can be donated to the underprivileged. We are calling this the ‘Daan pad peti campaign, a pad peti for every beti’. It becomes a self-sustainable initiative then and that is the need of the hour.”
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