Coimbatore: India’s ‘napkin man’ Arunachalam Muruganantham, who revolutionized the concept of cheap napkin production is honoured with the country’s prestigious Padma Shri award.
Hailing from Coimbatore, Muruganantham brought down absenteeism of girl students in Tamil Nadu schools and improved the hygiene of poor women in villages with his low cost napkins.
Muruganantham was honoured in New York in April last year by global leaders after he figured in the Time Magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the world along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and writer Arundathi Roy.
Kovai’s son of the soil, Muruganantham, who was chosen for the rare honour, told Deccan Chronicle, “I never expected such a great honour and I am really elated. This award will encourage others too to work in the field of women empowerment and towards the cause of society.”
A visibly excited Muruganantham said, “I am working with a mission to generate employment for one million women across the world. So far 12,500 women have been employed in making napkins. Also I dream to convert India into a 100 per cent napkin using country from the current level of just five per cent,” he said.
So far, Muruganantham has established his low cost napkin manufacturing machines in 2,400 villages benefitting 24,000 women across India. A school drop out, Muruganantham has achieved this feat by competing with several multinational brands of napkin manufacturers across the world.
“Quality napkins are made in villages at a cost of just Rs 2 per piece with my simple and cost effective machines,” he said. Fifty-two-year-old Muruganantham’s empathy for his wife Shanthi, whom he found using filthy rags during her menstrual cycle, prompted him to discover low cost pads that revolutionised the concept of hygiene among the rural women in India.
