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مارس 22, 2022

Entrance test for central universities: how, why

On Monday, the University Grants Commission (UGC) announced the introduction of the Central University Entrance Test (CUET), which is now mandatory for undergraduate admission at any of the 45 central universities in the country.
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Why a common entrance test?
Several governments, over the years, have made attempts to replace multiple entrance tests with a single one to reduce the burden on higher education aspirants. In fact, even CUET is not new. It had been launched as the Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) in 2010 under the UPA-II government, but had failed to gather steam since only 14 central universities had adopted it until last year.
CUET is a revamped version of CUCET and it’s now compulsory for all 45 central universities to adopt it. This has come after the announcement of the new National Education Policy (NEP), which advocates the need for an entrance test for university admissions.

What does this mean for undergraduate admissions at a reputable central university such as, say, Delhi University?
As far as Delhi University is concerned, sky-high cut-off marks will now be history. A student’s Board marks will have no role in determining her admission to a college or a programme. It will be based only on her CUET score. At best, colleges affiliated to Delhi University — or any central university for that matter — can use Board marks as the minimum eligibility criteria for admission.
For skill-based courses that have major practical components, such as music, painting, sculpture and theatre, universities will be allowed to conduct practical exams or interviews along with CUET. For professional programmes such as engineering and MBBS, central universities will admit through the entrance exams JEE (Main) and NEET respectively.
Why did the government decide against giving weightage to students’ performance in Class 12 Board exams?
The government did not favour using Board marks for admission because of the “diversity” in evaluation methods adopted by different Boards. “Some Boards are more generous than others in marking and this gives their students an unfair advantage over others,” said a government official who spoke on anonymity.

So, who will conduct CUET and when?
The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts entrance tests such as JEE (Main) and UGC-NET, will also conduct CUET for all central universities in the first week of July. It is a computer-based test that will be held in two shifts and can be taken in 13 languages — Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, Assamese, Bengali, Punjabi, Odia and English. However, it’s not clear whether CUET will be conducted on a single day or multiple days.
The application window for the examination will open in the first week of April. But unlike JEE (Main), there will be no common counselling for admission to central universities based on the CUET score. Each university is free to define its admission process based on the merit list prepared by the NTA. However, UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar did not rule out joint counselling in future.
What will CUET test a candidate on?
The UGC chairman said that the three-and-a-half-hour computer-based entrance test will only have multiple choice questions based on the content of NCERT textbooks. CUET will essentially have three parts.
The first part will test a candidate on a language of her choice. This will consist reading comprehension, questions on vocabulary, synonyms and antonyms, besides other things. There will be a choice of 13 languages. Apart from compulsorily appearing for one language test (out of 13 languages), a candidate will also have the option of taking another test in an additional language from a basket of 19 — French, Spanish, German, Nepali, Persian, Italian, Arabic, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri, Santhali, Tibetan, Japanese, Russian and Chinese.
The second part of CUET is focused on testing a candidate’s domain-specific knowledge. This section offers a total of 27 domains, and a candidate can choose to have her knowledge tested in at least one and a maximum of six domains. Each central university will specify which domain-specific test a candidate has to take for which programme.

The 27 domains on offer in the second part of CUET are Accountancy/ Book Keeping, Biology/ Biological Studies/ Biotechnology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computer Science/ Informatics Practices, Economics/ Business Economics, Engineering Graphics, Entrepreneurship, Geography, History, Home Science, Knowledge Tradition–Practices India, Legal Studies, Commercial Arts, Mathematics, Physical Education/ NCC, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Teaching Aptitude, Agriculture, Mass Media/ Mass Communication, Anthropology, Fine Arts/ Visual Arts (Sculpture/ Painting), Performing Arts and Sanskrit.
The third part of the entrance test will be a general test with questions on general knowledge, current affairs, general mental ability, numerical ability, quantitative reasoning (simple, application of basic mathematical concepts arithmetic/algebra geometry/mensuration/stat taught till class 8), logical and analytical reasoning. A candidate will appear for the general test only if it’s desired by the programme and university of choice.
Apart from the compulsory language test, a candidate’s participation in the domain-specific part of CUET and the general test will depend on whether a central university wants it for the programme she is applying for. For instance, a university may ask a student to only appear for the language and general tests for admission to a programme. For another programme, it may ask for the candidate’s score in the compulsory language test and a domain-specific test. The aspirant will have to first check a programme’s requirements and appear for a combination of domain-specific tests, language test and general test (if required), accordingly.
Why is CUET only limited to central universities?
At this moment, CUET is compulsory for central universities but the government is open to other institutions, including private universities, adopting this examination instead of conducting their own.
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What about postgraduate admissions in central universities?
Unlike undergraduate studies, conducting admissions to postgraduate programmes through CUET is not compulsory for central universities. Therefore, they are free to adopt CUET for PG admissions or stick to their own admission process for now.

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مارس 21, 2022

‘Movie should also be made on killings of Muslims’: MP IAS officer in trouble with govt over ‘Kashmir Files’ tweets

An IAS officer in Madhya Pradesh has run into trouble with the state government over tweets calling on the makers of The Kashmir Files to also produce movies on the “killings of (a) large number of Muslims across several states”.
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Niyaz Khan, who is currently the deputy secretary in the state Public Works Department (PWD), tweeted last week, “Kashmir File shows the pain of Brahmins. They should be allowed to live safely in Kashmir with all honour. The producer must also make a movie to show the killings of large number of Muslims across several states…”
In another tweet on Sunday, the IAS officer congratulated the film’s producers on the movie touching the Rs 150-crore revenue mark, and said that since people had “given a lot of respect for Kashmiri Brahmins’ feelings” the film’s makers should “transfer all earnings to Brahmin children’s education” and build homes for them in Kashmir.
In response, The Kashmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri asked Khan for an appointment in Bhopal on March 25. “We can meet and exchange ideas how we can help and how you can help with the royalty of your books and your power as an IAS officer,” Agnihotri tweeted on Sunday.
Khan, who is the author of eight books, has also said he is thinking about writing a book on the “massacre of Muslims on different occasions” so that the “suffering of minorities could be brought before Indians”.
Taking umbrage at the IAS officer’s comments, state Medical Education Minister Vishvas Sarang accused him of “firqa parasti (sectarianism)” and called for his removal from the PWD.
The minister told reporters that Khan violated the IAS service conduct rules by making the comments, and added that he would complain against him to the personnel department.

“He has no right…The way he has started issuing statements and started a Twitter war, this is against the service rules,” Sarang said.

The Madhya Pradesh government has made The Kashmir Files tax free, and given police personnel a day off work to watch the movie with their family. Last week, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan watched the movie at a special screening in Bhopal along with ministers in his government and BJP MLAs.
Vivek Agnihotri and actor Akshay Kumar are all set to attend the three-day Chitra Bharti Film Festival (CBFF) that begins on March 25 at the new campus of the Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication.

مارس 14, 2022

Arif Mohammad Khan: ‘I’m opposed to minority commissions, rather strengthen the human rights panel that can take care of everybody’

Arif Mohammad Khan talks on the relationship between governors and state governments, the hijab controversy and why he thinks there should be no special status for minorities in the country. The session was moderated by Deputy Political Editor Liz Mathew.
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Liz Mathew: What do you think about the controversies between the governorships and the state governments?
As far as my personal experience is concerned, there has been absolutely no conflict between the government and the Office of the Governor. The duty of the Governor is to preserve and defend the Constitution. The Governor is not in the state to run the administration; he is there to ensure that the business of the government is conducted in accordance with law, which means the Constitution and constitutional morality. So that has happened in the past and it was only at the time of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) where I had a strong feeling that citizenship is a subject which comes under the jurisdiction of the Central government. But it does not mean that people who are in the state government cannot give expression to their views. But I took exception where the state institutions were being used to create an environment of suspicion and misunderstanding in the minds of the people about the purpose of the Act, passed by Parliament.

Liz Mathew: Were there issues like the Vice-Chancellor’s appointment and other substantive matters wherein that rapport was kind of spoiled?
Actually, that should not be taken as a great difference of viewpoint. If we have submitted to University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations, we should do everything in accordance with those regulations. Here, the term of the V-C was completed. We had already set in motion the process of selection of a new V-C. The committee was constituted with one representative each of UGC, the university and the chancellor. Suddenly, the government, armed with the opinion of the Advocate General, asked me to scuttle the process which had already been in motion for about 20-25 days. They said, scuttle the process and appoint the same person. Therefore, I made it clear to them that I do not agree with it but since you have come with your opinion of the Advocate General, I’m accepting the recommendation.

Liz Mathew: Considering the track record of right-wing organisations and the BJP’s political stance when it comes to minorities, it surprised many that a person like you came to be associated with them and when you said there is no need to have any special status for minorities.
May I request you to point out when I made this statement for the first time, or objected to the use of the terminology of majority and minority. The first interview on this subject was given by me in 1980. After the Moradabad riots, an exclusive meeting of the Muslim MPs cutting across party lines was held. I had refused to attend that meeting, and raised this question that why the security of Muslim or anybody should not be the concern of everybody. Why should it be a concern of only MPs belonging to one denominational group?

Liz Mathew: That context was different, the situation in the country is different now and so is the minority status.
I do not know what difference you are talking about. Never forget that in 1946, Mahatma Gandhi had written in Harijan, that ‘to a section of Muslims, I am evil’. Before the Partition, if they really believed in the secularism of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, why was there a need for partition? In 1986, the Congress Party had more than 400 members, the BJP had only two members. Even then, this movement started. Why? Because (some people felt) ‘our religion is in danger. We feel insecure’. Point out any one time when these people, who pursue the same kind of politics, were not saying that the religion or their language is in danger.

Liz Mathew: 1992 Babri Masjid, 2002 Gujarat riots, then the Muzaffarnagar riots, then the Pehlu Khan incident, then the 2022 hijab controversy. So, why shouldn’t Muslims in this country feel insecure?
You have left out the main issue from where all these problems started — the Shah Bano issue. Babri Masjid was only part of the deal. The then Prime Minister himself told me after the lock was removed that nobody’s going to raise any objections. In order to manage that adverse fallout, within a few days, the government organised to remove the lock and what was specifically said was that Muslims are happy with Shah Bano decision and Hindus will become busy with Ayodhya. I have been saying right from day one, if you had entered into a deal, what was promised to you was given to you. So therefore, honour the rest of the deal. But till the unfortunate assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Muslim Personal Law Board did not raise this issue and that was the reason why more than two Babri Masjid action committees came into existence. But after the death of Rajiv Gandhi, the Board possibly thought that now that the man to whom we had made the commitment is no more, and it was not a written agreement, they took the matter in their own hands.

Liz Mathew: You’ve always stood for reforms in the Muslim community. Even the Prime Minister speaks about the need for reforms and he brought in the ban on triple talaq. Still the party and the Centre are not able to win the confidence of the minorities. What do you think they can do to bridge this trust deficit between the minorities and the ruling party?
How long are we going to view Indians as majority and minority? You want me to accept that I’m a minority? In elections, I’ve defeated candidates who happen to be Hindu, in Kanpur where the Hindu population was more than 80 per cent in 1980. And you want me to accept that because I was born in a Muslim family, therefore I should accept that I’m a minority? This was the attitude of the colonial masters, because they never accepted India to be a nation. They always said India is a conglomeration of communities, not a nation. They used to talk to community leaders. Are we going to continue this? The party which opposed it, unfortunately, after Independence, during the elections, they also did not behave differently. And that legacy is continuing. But somebody somewhere will have to stop and think about it. Please, let me also become Indian. Why do you want me to wear this label of being a minority?
Discrimination (against Muslims) has been there since 1947. Is the way out to develop a sense of victimhood? In social relations, it is okay. But in public life, I am viewed more as an Indian than the community or the family in which I was born
For the British, the building block of India was community — Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian. For the Constitution of India, the building block is the citizens of India. We have a duty, particularly those who are born after Independence, to change the discourse. And who is the majority? The political majority is one who is voted into power. Minority is the one which is not voted into power. We are a democracy, the situation can change in the next elections. But why should being a minority be permanently attached to me?
Ananthakrishnan G: You had raised this question recently on the pension that the ministers’ personal staff in Kerala are entitled to. The Opposition seems to be united in opposing you. Where does this go?
They are absolutely right that I do not have the power to put an end to it. It is only the elected government which can take a decision. When you say that the government and the Opposition both have joined hands — from the government’s side, nobody is making any statement against whatever I have said, and the Leader of Opposition, who was speaking on this issue against me, has been told by the UDF not to poke his nose into this issue. Here, every minister appoints more than 20 people on a ‘quo terminus’ basis, and they become entitled to pension after two years. So one set of people resign from their positions, another set of people comes in. In one term, every minister appoints about 45-50 people, who later work full-time for the party. They receive their salary in the form of a pension from the government. Nowhere in the country is this thing happening. Every party is benefiting from this scheme. And I find it highly improper.
Why do you want me to wear this label of being a minority? The political majority is one who is voted into power. Minority is the one which is not voted into power. The situation can change in the next elections
Harikishan Sharma: You said there should not be any distinction like majority and minority. In that case, is there a need for bodies like the National Minorities Commission and State Minority Commission? Do you think this is the right time for bringing the uniform civil code?
During Prime Minister VP Singh’s time, the government had created a Minority Finance Corporation. I was the only one in the Cabinet who opposed it. When the Constitution does not define who a minority is, through government orders, you are creating minorities. And you are creating these minority commissions. I am totally opposed to it. I’m for strengthening the National Human Rights Commission, which can take care of anybody and everybody. The Minority Finance Corporation would have rather provided an excuse to those who indulge in discrimination, a sort of moral justification. If some application, belonging to the targeted group comes, he will say ‘for you, a Minority Finance Corporation has been created, you go there’. And Minority Finance Corporation will not have enough finances to fund even the rickshaw pullers.

On the uniform civil code, anybody who is elected to an office is required to take an oath of the Constitution. For so many years, this doubt was created in the minds of the people that we should fear each other. And on that basis, ultimately, this country was partitioned. Therefore, the Constitution makers were of the view that we need a little more time to normalise the situation and then we should have a uniform civil code. Yes, we have to move in that direction. Maybe don’t do it today, tomorrow we will do it and it is not very difficult. You just have to tell everybody that the function of the law is not to create uniformity. Hindu code has not been able to create uniformity among the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and others. Even among Hindus, it has not been able to create uniformity. How can a uniform civil code seek to have a uniformity for everyone? Actually, it is a common civil code, it is not a uniform civil code. You are free to observe your own ceremonies, rituals, customs or whatever the religion prescribes. The aim is not to make people fall into one line, or create uniformity.
How can a uniform civil code seek to have a uniformity for everyone? Actually, it is a common civil code, it is not a uniform civil code. The aim is not to make people fall into one line, or create uniformity
Liz Mathew: Are there any differences that you see between the lives and moorings of the Muslims in North India and in a state like Kerala?
When I go to my village, which is only 110 km from Delhi, whatever I’ve seen in the last 15 years is unbelievable. In the village community, young girls were not allowed to step outside their homes after the age of 11-12 years. And today, more than 50 girls are cycling to go to the college every morning. The people of the same mindset (to whom I was referring earlier) have tried their best to stop these girls from going to college. Nobody’s listening to them now. I’ve made this statement that this controversy over veil should also be viewed in this same context. After the abolition of triple talaq, the rate of divorce has come down in the Muslim community. Muslim girls used to be reminded every day by their elders, mothers, elder sisters, other senior women of the house that if you don’t behave, you can be divorced, and it will be instant. After the law, that load is now off the mind of young Muslim girls. And they are doing so well in academics. This is worrying some of these conventional leaders. Imagine a Muslim woman who is an IPS officer, or flying a plane, or is a computer engineer, or working as an anchor on television. If you accept that hijab is essential, will it be possible for these young ladies to work? They will either have to give up their jobs or live with a sense of having committed the sin of not following what their religion prescribes as essential. That is why I’m repeatedly saying that this is no controversy, this is a conspiracy to limit her career prospects. If that happens, she will start losing her interest in education and be forced back into the four walls of the house where she was earlier.
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Liz Mathew: But do you see any difference between the Muslims in northern India and the Muslims in Kerala?
In the north, we need to work very hard for healing the wounds of the Partition, which still haunt us. The south, fortunately, has not been affected by the Partition. Therefore, the basic harmony is there. If you go to any part of Kerala, they all wear the same dress, speak the same language. The language doesn’t divide them, the food does not divide them. The culture does not divide them. As far as expression of the religious faith is concerned, India has always accepted
this diversity.
Krishn Kaushik: The discrimination against Muslims is well-documented. So are you suggesting that this discrimination does not exist on the ground and it is just a propaganda by certain motivated people? Also, do you believe there is any majoritarianism right now?
Anyone who has studied the manner in which the movement for the Partition of the country was conducted… it is not a question of denial. We have sown certain seeds, we have to reap the fruits. Now, instead of blaming one party or the other, we need to work unitedly. Discrimination has been there since 1947. Is the way out to develop a sense of victimhood? Is the way out that I further enhance the identity which has created these problems? The solution is in creating an environment where religion becomes a personal affair and we all are known by our identity, at least in public life. In social relations, it is okay. But in public life, I am viewed more as an Indian than the community or the family in which I was born.
Krishn Kaushik: The right wing questions the Indianness of certain sections of the society.
Absolutely not. Maulana Azad could see that as a result of the Partition, this would happen. Now, if I was realistic enough, I should have moved in the direction of healing those wounds. If I’m conscious of the problem, I will take action to solve the problem, not to make it more complicated. I’m not denying that many of these things which should not be there are there, but they need to be addressed. And they have not been there since 2014, they have been there since 1947.

Manoj CG: When a disproportionate share of Muslims become victims of all draconian laws like UAPA, NSA, sedition, we haven’t heard you at all that time.
I think you didn’t ask me a question about this, otherwise I would have spoken even at that time. If I will be identified more by my religious denomination, then for the misdeeds of one or few persons, the blame is shared by everybody. We repeatedly say terror has no religion. But the world has become a global village. At no point of time, I believed that Kashmiris are responsible for the situation which prevails in Kashmir. In fact, Kashmiris have made great sacrifices for the unity of India. We have this problem of terrorism since the early ’80s. The whole world knows who is responsible for this. This problem is coming from across the border. There are no simple answers to the question. There are so many factors and historical context which is responsible for it. There is no need to sweep these issues under the carpet. But realising the gravity of these issues, we must have a positive mindset that we will change the situation and run this country in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, which prohibits any discriminatory action on the part of the government. Yes, there are gaps. We will have to take a positive attitude instead of complaining all the time and developing a sense of victimhood.
Liz Mathew: There is talk that you are one of the contenders for the upcoming presidential and vice presidential elections.
Fortunately, our system is such that nobody can nominate himself or herself for this post. All those who are
making these remarks, I take it as their good wishes or blessings. But I do not want to talk about it because I have
no role.

مارس 14, 2022

Government curbs choking media in J&K: Press Council panel

A fact finding committee (FFC) of the Press Council of India (PCI) has found that the “news media in the Jammu & Kashmir region, and especially in the Valley is slowly being choked mainly because of the extensive curbs imposed by the local administration”.
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“There is also the threat of violence by the militants which acts as a deterrent,” the committee has said in its report that was submitted last week.
The FFC was set up in September 2021 by then PCI chairman Justice (retd) C K Prasad to look at the state of the media in Jammu and Kashmir after PDP leader and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti wrote to the Council.
“There is a long list of journalists who have been individually harassed. The object is to create a fear and intimidation to fall in with the government line,” the FFC report says.
According to the report, “normal lines of communication between the local government administration and journalists has been disrupted” because of the government’s “suspicion that a large number of local journalists are sympathizers of the militants’ cause”.

Lt Governor Manoj Sinha had “frankly told the FFC that many journalists were of ‘anti-national’ persuasion”, the report says. “He (Sinha) conceded that when he was first appointed, he used to encourage open press conferences, but now had gone back to a ‘selective engagement’ with preferred journalists.”
The three-member committee, comprising Prakash Dubey, Suman Gupta, and Gurbir Singh, recorded “numerous cases of journalists being subject to interrogation, threatened and made to fill irrelevant profiling documents”.
Some journalists had been “summoned to the dreaded ‘Cargo Centre’ for questioning — a location reserved for interrogation for armed militants”, the report said. Many journalists spoke about “the constant harassment they faced in the line of duty from security forces. These ranged from accusations of aiding the ‘separatists’ to lengthy interrogation in police camps, to detention and arrests for circulating ‘fake news’”, it said.
The police had “conceded to the FFC that as many as 49 journalists have been arrested and charged since 2016, not a small number considering that J&K has a very small press corps.
“Of these 8 have been arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which makes bail almost impossible. The police case is many journalists indulge in ‘anti-national’ activities.”
The committee recommended that “those indulging in any criminal acts, are not journalists pursuing their profession”, and if a journalist “is bearing arms or carrying grenades and other ammunition, he is not a journalist; he is a militant, and should be treated as such”.
However, the security establishment “cannot label writing against government policies, or quoting a family or civilian sources in a story about excesses of the armed forces, or tweeting a point of view as ‘fake news’ or ‘anti-national activity’ and then arresting the journalist for sedition”, the FFC said.
It is “not the business of journalists to support government policies or development work. A journalist’s job is to report the news as it happens, even if it is unpalatable to government officials”, the report underlines.
“A conflict zone has many players and many aspects of events that unfold. A journalist cannot and should not ignore the government version; at the same time, he is not the spokesperson of the government.”
The FFC found that “in the guise of information gathering, threats and various forms of intimidation by the police have become part of the new ‘normal’ in the Kashmir valley, particularly after the imposition of central rule since August 2019”.
It expressed concern that “the public relations work of various government departments has been taken over by the Police”, and recommended that “this should cease as it is against the letter and spirit of the functioning of the various arms of a democratic government.”
Journalists, the committee said, “rely on communication networks like the Internet, and access to events and persons, to gather and transmit news”, which “a government has the power to snuff…out as we have seen in the case of J&K”.
It noted that the suspension of mobile Internet whenever there is a conflict, and denying access to the scene of an armed encounter are ways to prevent free and fair news gathering in J&K. These “policies must be reversed”, the committee said.
“Journalists must be allowed to go about their work as professionals, as long as they do not hinder normal security operations,” the report said.
“It is also noticed that the government establishment has denied normal privileges like ‘accreditation’ and freedom to travel locally and abroad… By choking lines of communication and a free flow of reporting, the government will only encourage the spread of rumours and hearsay, which is in the long run detrimental to everyone.”

The committee said “there is no convincing reason” for why the Kashmir Press Club was “superseded and put in cold storage”. Its registration should be restored, “and government officials should not interfere is the election process of what is essentially a private body of news persons”, it said.
The report recalled that in her letter to the Press Council, Mehbooba Mufti had mentioned that journalists who are summoned by the police are made to fill a questionnaire “which is suggestive that the person might have links with ‘anti-national’ forces”. Among the 25 questions are those on the journalist’s “political allegiance”, “details of property owned”, and “relations in Pakistan”.
Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar had “no hesitation in conceding that there exists a programme to profile journalists working in the J&K region”, the report said. It quoted the officer as saying, “Our aim is to profile 80% of Kashmiris, and we will do it for journalists too.”

مارس 13, 2022

Eye on dropouts, Sikkim plans free sanitary pads in all govt schools

IN A first, the Sikkim government is set to announce a scheme to install vending machines to provide free sanitary pads in all its 210 secondary and senior secondary government schools across the state, in its annual Budget later this month.
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The scheme, “Bahini”, aims at providing “100 per cent access to free and safe sanitary pads to secondary and senior secondary schoolgoing girls”, says a government note. It aims to curb dropout of girls from schools and raise awareness about menstrual hygiene.
There are about 18,665 adolescent girls studying in government schools in Sikkim. The scheme is based on an experiment the state government initiated in 2018, in collaboration with Sulabh International, where vending machines were installed in some schools.
“This is the first time that a state government has taken a decision to cover all girls studying in Classes 9-12. We had provided sanitary pads through vending machines in some schools, but that was ad hoc. And due to lack of budgetary support, some machines have fallen into disrepair, or stocks of pads have not been acquired. But this time, with the scheme being a part of the Budget, this will not be a problem. All schools will be covered and we will issue tenders for the dispensing machines. We will also install incinerators at these schools for proper disposal of pads,” said Additional Chief Secretary (Education) G P Upadhyay.
The decision to roll out ‘Bahini’ was taken at a meeting of the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha on March 4.

“The issue of menstrual hygiene has been important for the SKM. The Chief Minister has talked about it in several of his speeches and we have been trying to formalise a scheme since 2018. Access to sanitary napkins, especially in rural Sikkim, much of which is remote and difficult terrain, is difficult. Often, even shops don’t keep napkins in these areas,” said Bikash Basnet, press secretary to Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang.
“It’s not just providing sanitary napkins which is important, but creating an awareness about menstrual hygiene as well as general hygiene among girl students, especially adolescent girls,” said Upadhyay. “In rural Sikkim, there is little knowledge about menstrual hygiene. So we will hold training programmes for teachers and counsellors who will then disseminate the information to the students. Our hope is that the students will take this information back to their communities — and we will be able to target the women of these communities through the students,” he said.
He said that while girls in Sikkim may not drop out of schools due to menstruation, it is definitely a contributing factor. Upadhyay said the dropout rate of students in Sikkim, for both boys and girls, is similar to the national average, which is approximately 20% for both genders.
According to WaterAid India, during menstruation, adolescent girls skip school for five to six days every month, and 23 per cent opt to drop out completely due to lack of proper toilet facilities and inadequate provisions.
“Another factor is that accessibility of sanitary pads depends on affordability. There are many companies that produce pads locally now, but the fear is that these pads are not of good quality,” said Ranjana Das, who works on gender at Oxfam.
Upadhyay said that according to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, anganwadi centres are to be set up inside school campuses. “Very often, women don’t always turn up at anganwadi centres. But if they are in schools, access becomes more natural as students come everyday in any case. So anganwadi and ASHA workers will also be roped in for our menstrual hygiene programme under Bahini,” he said.

In 2015, the central government introduced the national guidelines on menstrual hygiene management. The World Bank earlier noted that one of the surveys that informed the national guidelines found that in 14,724 government schools across the country, only 53 per cent had a separate and usable girl’s toilet. In addition, 132 million households did not have a toilet.
“Most women in rural areas resort to homemade sanitary pads… In Champaran in Bihar, for instance, women continue to use homemade napkins. Lack of access to menstrual facilities is a major reason why girl students drop out of schools in India, alongwith having to help in household chores, and look after their siblings. Schools in India simply do not provide safe places for menstruating girls, such as proper toilets,” said Das. “During their menstrual cycle, girls simply don’t go to school, which affects their education. And this lack of access follows them into the workforce,” she said.