#GoodNewsoftheDay: THIS man quit his job to educate women in Jharkhand about menstrual hygiene

There is a lot of stigma around periods. Every time a woman is on her periods she has to follow numerous restrictions from not walking into the temple to not having pickle or touching anything in the kitchen. During menstruation, women are considered to be impure and with the social stigma around it, it's still a major taboo in India. Most women don't feel comfortable discussing their periods and the problems related to them. Menstrual hygiene takes a back seat in such situations.

Menstrual hygiene is an important part of every woman's life and health. The women from rural areas don't have access to sanitary pads and end up turning to unhygienic methods during their periods. This puts them at the risk of multiple health problems and infections. In order to fix things in Jharkhand, where the situation isn't very good when it comes to menstrual hygiene. A youth from Ranchi decided to take matters into his own hands and turn things around in Jharkhand by educating the rural women about sanitary pads and their usage and disposal. This hotel management student from IHM, Bhubaneswar left his job and dedicated his life to doing better for the society. He started with educating people by starting a night school and helping them with farming and employment but the biggest shock came when he realised the situation women lived in during their periods.

While Mangesh Jha was no expert in menstrual hygiene, he knew that it's not healthy to use things like grass, sand, ash or cow dung as pads during periods. His mother and sister helped him understand all the dos and don'ts of menstrual hygiene. Jha then went on to explain these things to the women in Jharkhand and also provided them with pads. It did prove to be difficult to get women to talk or understand about periods but he did manage to make women comfortable over time and started getting them homemade pads that his mother helped him create. He provided women with these free pads and taught them everything about sanitary pads and menstrual hygiene and the dos and don't of using a sanitary pad and the disposal too.

Mangesh understands the impact of improper sanitary pad disposal on the environment and did his bit to reduce the sanitary pad disposal by educating women on how to use reusable pads and how to clean them. He also taught women about how to wash and disinfect the cloth that women use during their periods as a pad. Other than this he has also sought help from the villagers and the government for this cause and is hoping to set up biodegradable pads manufacturing units in all the villages. Mangesh has managed to reach out to numerous women and helped them come out of their unhygienic situations and that is probably why he is being called, "The Padman of Jharkhand".