In what can be termed as the Padman effect, Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in his budget has proposed to provide an annual stipend of Rs 600 to girls between the ages of 12-20 years, belonging to lower income families.
The monthly stipend has been introduced with an intention to safeguard and improve women’s health and to make disposable sanitary napkins more affordable and accessible while encouraging a more hygienic alternative, whose family income is below Rs 5 lakh.
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To cover the stipend for hygiene products, the government has allocated a sum of Rs 30 crore for the scheme in this budget.
The registration to avail this annual stipend money of Rs 600 would be done through Block Development Offices, which would be linked to their date of birth and the payment of the stipend, that would automatically stop once they attain the age of 20 years.