Government scraps GST on sanitary napkins: Women politicians across party lines welcome move

New Delhi: Women politicians, cutting across party lines, have welcomed the government’s decision on scrapping GST on sanitary napkins. Reactions flowed in from many women politicians after finance minister Piyush Goyal announced that sanitary pads are now 100 percent exempt from tax. “In a remarkable move, Piyush Goyal during the 28th GST Council Meet announced to exempt sanitary napkins from GST (sic). Indeed, this will give the required thrust to our menstrual hygiene initiatives and will transform lives of many women,” Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi tweeted. [caption id=“attachment_4795101” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Maneka Gandhi. AFP[/caption] Sanitary pads, which were initially taxed at 18 percent, were brought down to 12 percent under GST that was launched in July 2017. Gandhi, however earlier had justified the imposed tax saying that scrapping it would kill the indigenous pad makers. Congress MP Sushmita Dev who last year had launched an online petition with Change.org demanding total removal of taxes on pads welcomed the government’s move saying that it is a victory of more than four lakh citizens who had signed it. “Some journeys take longer than others. And so, here we are bearing the victory torch a year after our campaign ’tax free wings’. This is a monumental step towards improving the accessibility, availability and affordability of the product to millions of women,” Dev said. Union textile minister Smriti Irani too tweeted thanking the finance minister for exempting sanitary napkins from GST. “A welcome step towards encouraging menstrual hygiene among young girls and women. Good and Simple GST,” she wrote.