Arunachalam Muruganantham

Arunachalam Muruganantham (b. 1962^[1]) is a social entrepreneur from rural Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India. He is the inventor of a low-cost sanitary pad making machine and has innovated grass-roots mechanisms for generating awareness about traditional unhygienic practices around menstruation in rural India.

His mini-machines, which can manufacture sanitary pads for less than a third of the cost of commercial pads, have been installed in 23 of the 29 states of India. He is currently planning to expand the production of these machines to 106 nations.^[2] In 2014, TIME placed him in its list of "100 Most Influential People in the World" - Pioneers.^[3]

Life

The son of handloom weaver S. Arunachalam, Muruganantham grew up in poverty after his father died in a road accident.^[4] His mother, A. Vanita, started working as a farm labour for paltry wages. At school, he took interest in science and won an award at a science exhibition for a chicken incubator design. However, at the age of 14, he dropped out of school to look for work. Initially, he supplied food to factory workers, but then he took up various jobs as machine tool operator, yam selling agent, far labourer, welder, etc.^[4]

In 1998, shortly after getting married, Murugananthan discovered his wife Shanthi collecting filthy rags in a newspaper to use during her menstrual cycle.^[5] When asked about this unhygienic practice, she explained that buying sanitary napkins made by multinational corporations would mean they would not have money for milk.^[6]

Troubled by this, he started fashioning experimental pads, and this activity became an ongoing preoccupation. Every day after he got back from his work of welding gates and windows, he would spend hours devising sanitary pads.^[7] In the beginning, he made pads out of cotton, but these were rejected by his wife and sisters. Eventually, they stopped co-operating with him and refused to be the test subjects for his innovations.

He then bought the commercial product and realized that the raw materials at the time probably cost 10 paise ($0.002), but were selling for 40 times that price.^[2] Being from a handloom background, he thought he could make them cheaper himself.

At this time, he looked for female volunteers who could test his inventions, but most were too shy to discuss their menstrual issues with him. He even tested it on himself, using a bladder with animal blood, but became the subject of ridicule when the "sanitary pad" was discovered in his village.^[8] His preoccupation with addressing the issues that stem from how women deal with their menstrual flow, a rather taboo subject in India, left him ostracized by his community and family (albeit temporarily).^[9] At one point he would distribute his products free to girls in a local medical college, provided they returned them to him after use. Once his mother came upon these smelling feminine products in the room and even she decided to leave him.^[10]

Invention

Muruganantham persevered. It took him nearly two years to discover that that commercial pads used cellulose fibres derived from pine bark wood pulp.^[1] The fibres helped the pads absorb while retaining shape.^[4] Imported machines that made the pads cost 3.5 crores.^[11] So he went on to devise a low-cost machine that could be operated with minimal training.^[12] He sourced the processed pine wood pulp from a supplier in Mumbai, and made the machines that would grind, de-fibrate, press, and sterilize the pads under ultraviolet^[13] before packaging them for sale. The mini-machine costs Rs. 65,000 and sells for about Rs. 1 lakh in 2014. Another version, that does not need the cellulose input but starts by pulping wood, costs Rs. 3 lakhs.^[7]

Rural women meeting as members of self-help groups (SHGs).

The turning point for Muruganantham came in 2006, when he visited IIT Madras to show his idea and get suggestions. They registered his invention for the National Innovation Foundation's Grassroots Technological Innovations Award. His idea won the award that year,^[4] and he received it from President Pratibha Patil.^[7] This event brought him into the media spotlight and he obtained some seed funding and founded Jayaashree Industries, which now markets these machines to rural women all over India. Murganantham views it as a mechanism for providing them with employment and alleviating poverty.^[14] The machine has been praised for its simplicity and cost-effectiveness, and his commitment to social aid has earned him several awards.^[9] Despite offers from several corporate entities to commercialize his venture, he has refused to sell out and continues to provide these machines to self-help groups (SHGs) run by women all over India.^[10]

Muruganantham says his "greatest compliment" was a phone call from a mother who had installed his machine in remote Uttarakhand. She told him how her little girl was now going to school with the money she was making.^[10] Another, typical praise:

25-year-old Umar Parthak, said of the napkins: "We feel a lot more freedom. It gives us a lot more freedom to go out. Also, the rags that we previously used were not hygienic."^[9]

When his work became well-known, he got a shy phone call from his wife — after five and a half years of estrangement.^[8] They now live in Coimbatore with their daughter.^[15] His mother has also rejoined him.

Menstrual awareness in India

Muruganantham's invention is widely praised as a key step in changing women's lives in India.^[16] His passion for changing lives extends to increasing awareness about menstruation among women in developing nations, where only 10% of rural women use pads,^[15] and rags, soil, and even mud may be used for stemming menstrual flow.^[9] In many of these nations, girls will drop out of school around puberty.^[17] Muruganantham's machine creates jobs and income for many women, and affordable pads enable many more women to earn their livelihood during menstruation.^[18] In addition to his own outreach, Muruganantham's work has also inspired many other entrepreneurs to enter this area,^[19] including some that propose to use waste banana fibre or bamboo for the purpose.^[17]

Muruganantham has become well known as a social entrepreneur. An excellent raconteur with a rustic touch,^[20] he has lectured at IIT Mumbai,^[21] IIM Ahmedabad^[1] and at Harvard.^[22] He has also given a TED talk.^[11] His fascinating story was the subject of a prize-winning documentary by Amit Virmani, Menstrual Man.^[23]

See also

• Menstrual Man
• Menstrual taboo
• Women in India

References

External links

• press clippings in many languages - Jayashree Industries
• Innovation for society betterment by Arunachalam Muruganantham
• - Mathrubhumi News About Arunachalam Muruganantham