Why is it so difficult for varsities to put up sanitary napkin vending machines? 

With the world seeming more connected that ever before, there’s an increasing sensitivity towards the needs of women too. #Bleedwithoutfear, the Delhi University hashtag by Students Federation of India (SFI) has resurfaced again this summer. The demand is not new and some colleges have already installed sanitary napkin vending machines.

Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University were one of the first few though there are allegations that the machines at DU do not work. Last December, the administration at St Xavier's College in Mumbai got a sanitary napkin vending machine installed. Earlier, this year, there were complaints that the vending machines at Savitribai Phule Pune University were dysfunctional. And, the officials at Tata Institute of Social Sciences are still mulling over the installation.

While in the Hyderabad Central University, a campaign by National students Union of India (NSUI) has ensured the installation of the vending machine on their campus. Here is the first-person account of Anju Rao Guddugurki, who spearheaded the campaign in the University:

A month ago, my periods began without the usual bodily warning and I was unprepared. I had to go around searching for a sanitary napkin on the HCU campus. I found that the general retail stores were shut. Upon inquiry, I was told that they had been shut down since June after the stores were caught selling expired products.

I headed to the University Health Centre (UHC) which also had a pharmacy. But, to my utter dismay, the UHC attendant categorically stated that they had no napkins to give out. She nonchalantly added that I would need to go out of the campus to buy one.

Not a single pad was available in the entire campus for over a month. The girls in the University had been walking at least four kilometers whenever they needed a pad. What had annoyed me was that even the Students Union had failed to take up the issue.

What added to the irritation was that the University of Hyderabad, just like the central government, pats itself on the back for promoting women’s education. In its 41st Annual Report (2015-16), HCU stated that there were 1,870 women students, constituting 36.75% of the total student strength that year.

Going by this official figure, are we to assume that the University had turned a blind eye to the biological reality of more than one-third of its student population by refusing to stock sanitary napkins on the campus?

This is when I decided to launch a campaign on behalf of the National Students Union of India. It was a plea to the HCU student community to join the fight against the exclusionary negligence of the university by lending signatory support to my four-page letter addressed to the Vice Chancellor.

We had demanded that the health centre and stationery stores begin providing sanitary napkins in a week and within two weeks a positive response regardingthe installation of sanitary napkin vending machines and incinerators at the women’s hostels.

What one should mention is that the students recognised the immediacy of the issue irrespective of their gender. The feminist-humanist is not dead. The campaigning continued for four days and on August 3, senior NSUI leaders Lingaswamy Baikani, P Phani Krishna, N Laxminarayana, Aashiq Muhammed and I had a meeting with the Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile.

Our dear Vice Chancellor has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. He could easily be classified as one of the most regressive voices in the institution. And once again his conversation with us in his chambers proved his critics right.

Once he had heard our demands, he had stated, “You cannot ask for everything and anything to be made available in campus. The University Health Centre has never provided sanitary napkins and neither will it do so in the future. The definition of a Primary Health Centre does not include the provision of that (napkins). When you step out of campus to buy chocolates and biscuits, why don’t you buy that (napkins) too? There is a procedure for everything, even for shop tenders. You wait until the shops are open. You can talk to the female counselors, they will tell you how to deal with emergency situations.”

We were left fuming. Since I was the only woman in the room, I decided to argue with him. We demanded to know why he was averse to fulfilling our demands when there were enough funds under Schedule 4A (Plan), Schedule 4B (Non plan) and Schedule 4D (Assets acquired out of University’s own fund) budget accounts. We reminded him that the National Commission for Women issued a directive in 2014 that mandated all schools and colleges to install vending machines for sanitary pads. Jawaharlal Nehru University had already installed vending machines in keeping with the demands of the student community in 2014. Why should HCU be on the back foot?

To this, he said, “Don’t tell me about what is happening in other universities. They can do as they like.”

Before the argument got out of hand, the Pro-Vice Chancellor, BP Sanjay, intervened to say that they would “try” for a stop-gap arrangement at the women’s hostels before the general stores open. We left the meeting partially assured.

However, the Dean of Student Welfare, Debashis Acharya, welcomed the letter. Later that evening, Acharya said it was embarrassing to receive a petition-letter on the subject itself as it revealed the fault lines in one of the best-ranked universities in the country. He was open to our suggestions and assured us of some progress soon.

We waited as requested but, surprisingly, not as long as we expected.

Within 24 hours, the office of the Registrar published a circular dated August 4 to inform us that sanitary napkins were made available at stationery outlets on the campus as a stopgap arrangement until August 21, when the general stores were expected to reopen.

Three days later, on August 7, the same office issued a notification that stated that a six-member empowered committee has been constituted by the competent authority to recommend the procurement of three sets of sanitary napkin vending machines and incinerators. The expenditure for the purchase would be met from the hostel maintenance budget.

Our campaign had yielded results. We had won.

The student community had won for its women, despite how difficult it had seemed to negotiate with the VC. The collective power of common conscientious is what had won the campaign. It was a win for right to life as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and the dignity of individuals as laid out in the Preamble.