The Govt Thinks I Need Pizza & Sindoor More Than Sanitary Pads

Bindi, sindoor, and bangles are exempt from tax. But your pads and tampons, that you’ll have to pay for. (Photo: The Quint)

My ovaries can’t take it anymore. Turns out, my menstrual cycle features pretty low on the list of the government’s priorities. By low, I mean the fact that the Goods and Services Tax council has decided it is fine to slap a 12 percent tax on sanitary napkins.

This tax is heavier than my monthly flow.

What’s cheaper you ask? Take your pick. Items like chai and coffee, to pizza bread (PIZZA BREAD) and papad won’t be taxed because the council deems them “essential goods”.

(Photo: The Quint)

The government took it one step further. It made items like bindi, sindoor, and bangles tax-free. This means I can now have a tax-free Karvachauth thali. That wouldn’t be so bad, if millions of women in the country didn’t have to pay through their nose for their monthly hygiene needs.

Clearly, ‘sanskaar’ trumps biology in this battle for equality.

Dear government, here’s a collective cry from the ovaries of the country:

Your tax on sanitary pads is heavier than our monthly flow. Don’t we deserve better?