Payal Patel : The Pad Girl of Odisha

In this pocket of India talking about menstruation of women is considered as a taboo.  It is a subject matter which is purely in the domain of females of any family. The girls are not alerted in advance about the periodic cycle that they are going to confront in life by the time they attains the age of 12 to 14 years old. The illiterate tribal and the rural women of this subcontinent are either unaware about the availability of sanitary napkins or they unable to afford to buy them since they are stricken by poverty.

                                                        

You would be aghast to know about the unorthodox practices that are followed during the period of their menstruation in this pocket of Odisha. During the very first menstruation the girl is confined in a room for seven long days. It is ensured no male persons should look at them. Since rural and tribal women doesn't use under garments(panties) so during the period of menstruation they tie cloth to their waist and hang either dry leafs or straws to it. Even more shocking is to know about the use of ash collected from the wood fire so as it will absorb the discharged blood. So long a female menstruate she become untouchable and barred from entering the kitchen, neither she should cook food. As per our Hindu practices the women under menstruation are barred from entering the precincts of any temples.

The Hindi movie Pad Man has highlighted all these issues. It was a blockbuster movie which that has generated revenues worth ₹40.05 crores (US$5.6 million) in the opening weekend itself. This movie was directed and written by R.Balki. In the lead role were Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor and Radhika Apte. This movie was made on  the biography of Arunachalam Muruganantham a social entrepreneur of Coimbatore who has introduced low cost sanitary pads.

Likewise in Odisha we as well got an unsung legend but who in fact was never brought to the limelight. It is a girl altogether by the name Payal Patel of Rangiatikra village of Jharsuguda district. Early in life Payal has realised hygiene of women is a major issue on which the health of any lady depends. Unless the mother herself is healthy how she could able to take care of her family?

It is essential to know why at all our Sambalpuri girl  has undertaken such a mission which is mere impossible to chase. Payal Patel was born to a Agriha family. Her father was earning an unstable income out of cultivation of paddy. Though they got eight acres of land, but since its non-irrigated land they had to depend on the grace of Lord Indra, the Hindu rain God to get a good yield of crop. Her father was manging his family with a limited income. But in the year 2014 ill fate struck her family when her father expired due to meta-testicular cancer. Due to abject poverty Payal had to abandon her education in the first year itself at Women’s College, Jharsuguda. It took couple of months for Payal and her family to recover from the setback. By 2016 with a rejuvenation of energy Payal enrolled her name with Rural Self Employment Training Institute at Belpahar. She has undergone the training of producing women sanitary napkins. Until she approached the institute she was of the opinion such sanitary napkins can be manufactured only by the MNC’s in their gigantic factories.

Payal recalls the very first instance when she encountered with menstruation cycle. While she was in her tutorial class she felt some unusual thing. She took an excuse from her teacher and went back to her home. On reaching home she went to their bathroom and was shocked to find the stains of blood. She was worried. With her tender mind she thought it is perhaps cancer. She was fear stricken but did not reveal to any of her family members. Next day morning when the same thing reoccurred Payal was frightened and revealed the things to her mother fearing it to be some short of cancer. But Payal was astonished when her mother was rejoiced to hear the whisper of her. Her mother narrated to her the relevance of menstruation in a woman’s life. Payal took a long breath to know she is safe and no harm is going to happen to her life.

On undertaking the training from RSETI Payal applied online to District Industrial Centre(DIC), Jharsuguda for a loan of Rs.8,00,000/-. Looking at the viability of her project DIC sanctioned a loan of Rs.7,56,000/-. The loan amount gave enough impetus to this girl. With the infusion of additional capital from home Payal bought one semi-automatic machines worth ten lakhs to manufacture the sanitary pads. She had to borrow additional five lakhs from her mother for running capital so as to buy the raw materials. All through the gestation period of the project, her mother stood by her side while constantly restoring her will power.

By employing six girls Payal started producing the sanitary napkins. Her brand name is Hygine. But the real challenge on her part was to sell her Hygine sanitary pads in the market. When she went to the big stationary shops of Jharsuguda or Sambalpur the retailers were hesitant to keep her sanitary pads. They said excuse us as only the big brands of MNC’s like Whisper and Stayfree are selling and we unable to even endorse other lesser known brands like Sofy or Comfy. One evening Payal returned home and while placing her head on the lap of her mother she cried. Her mother embraced the head of Payal with her fingers and suggested why don’t you tap the rural hinterlands where semi literates live. From next morning Payal lifted her bag of Hygine brand of sanitary napkins and visited different villages of Jharsuguda and Sambalpur district. She called the leaders of the women Self Help Groups(SHG). Payal taught them the necessity and the benefits of using the sanitary pads during the menstruation period. The MRP(Maximum Retail Price) of her product Hygine is Rs.25 for a set of 8 units. The average cost worked out to be Rs.3.12 per unit. Whereas the average cost of Stayfree Secure is Rs.4.16 as 6 pieces of that brand are sold for Rs.25/-. At present Payal is grossing a turnover of around 30 to 40 lakhs INR consistently in the past three years.

The irony is that Women and Family Welfare Dept., Odisha itself is not procuring her output despite the reason every year crores of Rupees are being spent to organise the conclaves like “Make in Odisha”. We should be proud of the girls like Payal Patel who hails from the grass root of Odisha, but able to create a social enterprise. With this she is not only supporting her mother and younger brother but six more girls who are working in her factory.

On the grass root of India we need girls like Payal Patel whereas let Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Indra Nooyi and  Indu Jain stay back in the comfort zone of the metropolitan cities.

kiranbima@gmail.com
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E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)
C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)
Main Road
At/PO : Barpali-768029
Dist.Bargarh,Odisha, India