#LahuKaLagaan lends a stronger voice to the sanitary napkins tax exemption petition

“Women are being taxed 12 months a year, for about 39 years on a process they have no control over. How is that fair?” Congress MP Sushmita Dev raised her voice against this issue by initiating a petition to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, pushing him to remove the tax on Sanitary Napkins. Leading comedians and affluent Twitterati kickstarted #LahuKaLagaan initiative to strengthen the resolve against sanitary napkins tax.

The petition seeking exemption on sanitary napkins tax initiated on International Women’s Day, is already raging on social media and recently celebrities have joined in the conversation by tweeting about it. Dev, from Silchar constituency in Assam, surfaced the austere statistics of how out of India’s 355 million women only 12% use sanitary napkins.

Currently, sanitary pads are taxed from 12% to 14%, varying from different States, which is apparently expected to persist even under the GST. And as per the #LahuKaLagaan 88% of Indian women still use fabric, plastic or dry leaves and sand during their periods.

Steaming a progressive proposal via social media, celebrities are requesting the Finance Minister of making sanitary napkins tax free under GST bill. Comedians from Kenny Sebastian, Mallika Dua, Kanan Gill, Rohan Joshi, Sorabh Pant and more are encouraging their followers to tweet, post and share about as much as possible this, hoping to shed light on this issue which is a basic hygienic need of a woman at best.

Dear @arunjaitley please exempt sanitary napkins from GST, a humble request #LahuKaLagaan pic.twitter.com/2kyyhU4dxB

— Rohan (@mojorojo) April 18, 2017

88% Indian women use: rags, sand, ash, wood shavings, leaves etc.

Remove tax on Sanitary Napkins?#LahuKaLagaan @SheSaysIndia @arunjaitley

— Sorabh Pant (@hankypanty) April 18, 2017

Friends, sanitary napkins should be free under GST, plz tweet to @arunjaitley and make ur voice heard #LahuKaLagaan @SheSaysIndia

— Kanan Gill (@KananGill) April 18, 2017

27% of the WORLDS cervical cancer deaths occur in India.

Please @arunjaitley remove tax on sanitary napkins.@SheSaysIndia#LahuKaLagaan

— Kenny Sebastian (@knowkenny) April 18, 2017

19% Indian women haven't heard of sanitary napkins! Let's remove tax on them @arunjaitley & make them for all! @SheSaysIndia #LahuKaLagaan

— Karan Talwar (@BollywoodGandu) April 18, 2017

Dear @arunjaitley Sir please abolish proposed GST on sanitary napkins @SheSaysIndia #LahuKaLagaan pic.twitter.com/K6UWIqibBv

— Atul Khatri (@one_by_two) April 18, 2017

Celebrities, politicians and public personalities from varied background came ahead in support.

Hi @arunjaitley when contraceptives are tax free then why not sanitary pads?Only 12% of Indian women can afford #LahuKalagaan @SheSaysIndia

— Priya Sometimes (@PriyaSometimes) April 18, 2017

Dear @arunjaitley, not okay to tax women on essential commodities. Pls do the right thing. Make SNs tax-free under GST #LahuKaLagaan https://t.co/2KEvugKAvB

— Trisha Shetty (@TrishaBShetty) April 18, 2017

Can @arunjaitley make sanitary napkins tax-free so more than 12% of 497 million Indian women can afford it?#LahuKaLagaan #DoTheRightThing

— Meghna Pant (@MeghnaPant) April 18, 2017

It is great to see the stand-up comedians of this country raising their thoughts around grave social stigmas and working towards bringing about a change in policy. The fight is to stop labeling the product from luxury to a hygiene necessity, by offering 100% tax exclusion for the production and distribution of environment and health-friendly pads. The petition also demands negligible taxation on disposable sanitary napkins to deter its usage on a wide scale with the motive to preserve the environment.