"My work has nothing to do with the movie.Vishwakarma said during the past two years she has been spending about 6-8 months every year in India and the rest in California."Vishwakarma, daughter America plugs of a poor `lohar' (blacksmith), said she studied in the village school and then moved to a nearby town for further schooling before shifting to Jabalpur for pursuing MSc in biochemistry. Our machines are semi-automatic."Women and girls even don't dry their inner clothes in the open. I even did not know about it.

Bhopal: At a time when the entire country is talking about the upcoming film "Padman", a woman scientist in Madhya Pradesh, who returned from the US, has been silently working on her mission to educate tribal women about menstrual health and offering them cheap sanitary pads.

They do not talk about their problems."As compared to branded products, the pads made by us are much cheaper."I have seen Muruganantham's machine but it was different from our equipment."I was told to use cloth by a woman relative during my first period.Her early life's experience led her back to her native place, where she is working for menstrual hygiene and cost- effective manufacturing of quality sanitary pads under the banner of her organisation - Sukarma Foundation.The 36-year-old biologist has returned to her village Mehragaon in Narsinghpur district from the US, where she went for higher studies, and is devoting her energy in spreading awareness about menstrual hygiene among tribal women. He was known to me from my California days," Vishwakarma said."The factory set up by her is producing 2,000 sanitary pads per day. We need Padwoman and Padman who can work on the ground."She urged Kumar to share the profit of his movie on providing cost-effective pads to women in the tribal areas and villages."Real groundwork is needed.Maya Vishwakarma started her mission two years ago, prompted by her own experience of unsafe menstrual hygiene during her early years."She said films like "Padman" would create awareness about menstrual cycle and related problems but this alone is not sufficient and more work on the ground is needed. His machine manufactured affordable sanitary towels for women in villages. I work in areas, which lack basic amenities like power. Talking about menstrual health is still a taboo in our society. I have been working on menstrual health since the  past two years. "We are struggling with initial problems but would soon increase the production," she said. My experiences in early life inspired me to work in this field. So, our cost of a pack of seven pads would be around Rs 15-20 while the price of branded products is much higher. I had met Muruganantham in connection with my work in 2016. They consider menstruation a curse.

The Akshay Kumar-starrer social drama is a fictionalised account of Tamil Nadu-based social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham, who invented a low-cost sanitary pad-making machine."I did not use sanitary pads till the age of 26.Later, she got an opportunity to do research at the AIIMS, New Delhi and moved to the US for a PhD in chemical and biological engineering which she could not complete. We are now working on packaging," she said. Now, more and more women are coming forward to join us."

After two years of research, production of sanitary pads started in October last after machines were arranged through my own resources and crowd funding. Only movies can't bring change. So, education on this issue is needed. I visit tribal villages of Narsinghpur and adjoining districts and educate women about menstruation.. We procure raw materials at cheaper rates while labour is also cost-effective."Vishwakarma's campaign has come into spotlight at a time when there is a buzz around the Bollywood movie "Padman", which will hit theatres on February 9. At that time, neither did I have money, nor information," Vishwakarma told PTI. This had caused several infections