Shuchi Scheme | 23 Sep 2020

The Karnataka government has not allocated funds to the Shuchi Scheme (a menstrual hygiene project), in its budget for 2020-21.

As a result, the distribution of sanitary napkins has come to halt under the Scheme, affecting over 17 lakh school and college girls.

The Shuchi Scheme, started in 2013-14, was initially a Centrally-sponsored one. However, the Centre asked States to take over the scheme from 2015-16.
- The central government has supported the States/UTs through National Health Mission (NHM) in their programme implementation plans for decentralised procurement of sanitary napkin packs.
It is aimed at instilling awareness about menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls.
A national level scheme- Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY) of the Union Ministry of Women & Child Development seeks to empower adolescent girls, so as to enable them to take charge of their lives.
- The broad objectives of the Scheme are to improve the nutritional, health and development status of adolescent girls, promote awareness of health, hygiene, nutrition and family care, link them to opportunities for learning life skills, going back to school, help them gain a better understanding of their social environment and take initiatives to become productive members of the society.