By: Barnali Bose, Editor-ICN Group
KOLKATA: On March 17,2017, I received an email from Sushmita Dev,a Lok Sabha MP asking for support to join a campaign of hers via change.org.
The petitioner requested me to sign the petition asking the Union Finance Minister to make sanitary napkins GST free.The move would specially benefit the lesser privileged who faced stigma centred around menstruation by making a product of basic necessity accessible to them.
In the email, she categorically stated that imposing taxes on sanitary napkins was synonymous with “ taxing women for being women.” Needless to say,I supported the initiative and signed the petition without a second thought.
That very day,I got a response stating that my signature was a first crucial step in joining the#TaxFreeWings campaign. I am sure many other supporters too had received a similar mail.There was also a request to spread the word through social media such as Facebook,Tweeter, Whatsup as well as email.
On April 9,2017, I received another email from Sushmita Dev,the subject of which was“ Barnali,We’re winning!” She wrote that she had met the Health Minister,JP Nadda and the Women and Child Development Minister,Maneka Gandhi with the petition already having two lakh fifty thousand signatures. They agreed to support the campaign. She wrote “ Your voice matters.” She sent a link to a tweet to the Finance Minister.I sent the tweet.
On May 18, 2017, an email informed me that she had met Arun Jaitley, the Finance Minister.
She also stated that MPs of different political parties have extended their support. Maneka Gandhi had made it part of the draft for National policy for Women.She then thanked me for my continuous support and requested me to send another tweet as a final step to urge Arun Jaitley to take positive action.
“Victory!” rightly said the subject of the mail,I received from Sushmita Dev at 9.28 am today. informing me that the government has removed GST on sanitary napkins.It was basically an update and a thank you mail for having signed the petition with regard to the same.
The petition had finally gained 404,395 supporters. She wrote, “ Some journeys take longer than others.And so here we are bearing the victory torch a year after our #TaxFreeWings campaign.” She concluded,“ This victory is each one of ours…..”I mailed my heartiest felicitations to her.
I too,like many others believe that this step will help endorse the idea of ‘ Beti Bachao Beti Padao’ and ‘Swachh Bharat’. This is definitely going to increase attendance of girls in schools and help women to take confident steps towards gaining economic independence.
However what needs to be done is to produce and distribute environment friendly sanitary napkins in the rural areas and also among the lesser privileged in the urban areas. All said and done,a minimal tax could be imposed to safeguard the environment.
I have for the past few years been signing petitions on change.org, petitions that I have felt had substance and needed mass voice to draw attention and gain credibility of those concerned to usher much needed change.
I now truly feel jubilant on having contributed in a small way, if at all,to the victory over an unfair tax imposition on an essential commodity that women in their prime years have no option to do without. This has truly been One small step; One giant leap for Womankind.
