In rural Raigad, Maharashtra, imagine an ASHA worker trudging miles between villages during COVID. Her menstrual cycle becomes a silent struggle amid endless fieldwork. A traffic policewoman endures hours standing on scorching roads. Both battle infections from rags or pads.
Their challenges are whispered behind closed doors. These women’s untold hardships inspired the Centre for Transforming India (CFTI) to launch the “Cup of Care” campaign. It brings sustainable menstrual cups that offer dignified, 12-hour leak-proof protection, health, and eco-friendliness to counter India’s massive pad waste burden of over 113,000 tons annually.
Mrs. Chitralekha Patil, Founder of CFTI, states, “At CFTI, we believe true transformation begins with giving women the dignity and freedom they deserve. ‘The Cup of Care’ is not just a menstrual hygiene campaign. It is a movement towards long-term empowerment, sustainability, and change. Our mission is to reach every village that still struggles and ensure no woman in India compromises her health due to financial constraints. This campaign marks the beginning of a larger national effort where menstrual hygiene is a right, not a privilege.”
Roots in Rural Empowerment
CFTI breathes life into rural India, where the pulse of grassroots change sparks national progress from a developing to a developed country. At its heart lies a powerful belief: empowering people at the very base of society lifts the entire nation. Over 700 volunteers form a vital, dedicated network.
They slip quietly into the “lowest level of the societal pyramid,” the forgotten corners where real struggles unfold. These volunteers listen intently to women toiling endlessly on Raigad’s sprawling farms, vast fields, choppy fishing boats, or dusty roadside stalls where they sell vegetables and fish to make ends meet. Raigad, an agrarian district dominated by farming and fishing communities, became CFTI’s starting ground because of deep connections built there over years.
What began humbly with bicycle projects to help girls stay in school has blossomed into comprehensive, holistic support tailored to lives shaped by the rhythm of the land and sea. Mr. Amit Deshpande, Chief Operating Officer, shares passionately, “Transforming rural India is way too important. We are closely working with rural communities. Through these volunteers, we can reach the lowest level of the pyramid and understand the real needs.” This hands-on approach ensures every initiative springs from genuine, on-the-ground insights, turning empathy into action that resonates deeply with rural realities.
Breaking Menstrual Taboos
The “Cup of Care” was born from poignant COVID-era insights into the daily battles of ASHA workers walking miles between villages and policewomen standing for hours on busy roads, all while grappling with unmanaged menstrual cycles that brought discomfort, infections, and shame. These weekly women-only gatherings create safe spaces where silence breaks and stories flow freely.
An all-female team leads them with care and expertise: 10 gynecologists bring medical wisdom, 20 ASHA workers share frontline experiences, 10 self-help groups offer community solidarity, and CFTI staff tie it all together. Together, they weave a tapestry of education through local-language awareness videos that feel familiar and approachable, heartfelt individual and collective counseling that builds trust, simple pamphlets for take-home reference, hands-on demonstrations of cup usage that demystify the process, and open doubt-sharing sessions where questions tumble out without judgment.
They gently unpack taboos long murmured “behind closed doors in whispering tone,” topics too sensitive for open air. Common fears surface: the dread of “ganda” blood when cleaning the cup, met with reassurance, “You clean your hands too. It’s no different from handling pads or rags.” Unmarried girls voice deep worries over virginity and sexuality, but gynecologists reassure there’s no link to inserting an internal product during menstruation.
Traditions weigh heavy too, bans on entering temples, isolation in separate rooms during cycles, special disposal spots for used cloth, all handled with respect. Without challenging deep-rooted customs or cultural beliefs tied to faith, they reframe menstruation tenderly as “something very natural, the beautiful process of reproduction, not paap or bad.”
For women enduring 42% unhygienic practices in Maharashtra; far worse in states like Uttar Pradesh at 69.4%, Bihar at 67.5%, and Madhya Pradesh at 64.8%, these cups deliver affordable, user-friendly relief from sky-high pad costs. They provide reliable protection through grueling long workdays, preventing rashes and leaks that force women to hide or miss work.
Already touching 3,000 to 4,000 lives in Raigad, the initiative builds momentum. The next vital step draws men into the conversation to empathize with women’s cramps, mood shifts, emotional turbulence, physical fatigue, and menopause struggles, even as they juggle endless duties like cooking, laundry, and family care without a break.
It challenges the notion that these four days are just “downtime,” urging men to offer real support. Equally important, it pushes medical store vendors to sell products openly in transparent bags, not hidden in black polythene or paper out of false shame—”Why can’t you give it openly?”
Girls and Women Skilling
For adolescent girls on the brink of dropouts, dreaming of futures beyond village boundaries, “Savitrichya Leki Chalalya Pudhe” arrives like a lifeline. This initiative gifts bicycles to 35,000 girls aged 10 to 15 across Maharashtra, easing the long treks to school that often prove too daunting. Each bicycle comes paired with three empowering sessions: self-defense to build confidence, menstrual hygiene awareness to equip them for womanhood, and career guidance to ignite ambitions. These keep girls pedaling steadily toward brighter horizons, slashing dropout rates and opening doors to education.
Adult women discover new wings through targeted skilling that turns survival into self-reliance. Tailoring classes sharpen practical skills for income generation. Intensive one-month catering and food production training transforms Alibaug’s self-help groups, equipping them with commercial-grade utensils to handle big orders from 600 to 700 local resorts, hotels, and homestays. What was once modest earnings of ₹20,000 to 25,000 monthly now surges to ₹80,000 to 90,000, fueling family stability and pride.
Another game-changer: 45-day digital marketing and computer training teaches these groups to navigate Facebook and Instagram, craft their own ads, and expand reach to bustling markets in Mumbai, Thane, and Vashi, previously out of grasp. Looking ahead, driving training promises even more independence: rigorous lessons leading to licenses, help securing bank loans for vehicles, and marketing support to land gigs with tourist groups in Alibaug and Murud, who prefer safe, female drivers for family trips.
Deshpande says, “We are working with women closely, scaling of women, giving them education, bicycles to reduce dropout rate, skills, ways and means to start their own businesses through several groups to make them independent.” These programs do more than teach—they instill dignity, economic power, and the freedom to shape their destinies.
National Expansion Ahead
Rooted deeply in Raigad’s close-knit communities, where strong networks from early bicycle projects paved the way, CFTI now casts its gaze toward Maharashtra’s most overlooked corners. Aspirational districts like Gadchiroli, Usmanabad, and Nandurbar cry out for change, their residents huddled in tin-sheet homes topped with a single sheet, doors fashioned from tarpaulin, scraping far below national benchmarks in health, education, and industry. Palghar’s Adivasi hamlets, startlingly just two hours from Mumbai’s skyscrapers, remain worlds away in hardship, their low income, academic levels, and lifestyles unimaginable so near urban glamour. CFTI’s personal visits reveal these realities firsthand, fueling commitment.
A bold 5-to-10-year nationwide push follows, zeroing in on states plagued by poor menstrual hygiene indices: Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Meghalaya. Change will unfold “slowly and gradually,” battling decades of ingrained habits passed down from “dadi to maa,” where sanitary pads, cloths, or rags ruled unchallenged.
Yet glimmers of hope shine through ground stories: women with wide-eyed wonder exclaiming, “Arey, aisa bhi hota hai, apart from sanitary pads, clothes!”; discovering cups as a revelation for longer use, cost savings, and ease. Deshpande urges with conviction to The Logical Indian, “We want more support from SHGs, from corporates, from ASHA workers, government participation at all levels, involvement of all stakeholders, even elderly women” to spark true mindset shifts across generations.
Patil adds powerfully, “‘The Cup of Care’ is the beginning of a behavioral transformation that will help women regain agency, dignity, and confidence.” Through relentless teamwork, CFTI envisions a rural India where women stand tall, unburdened, and empowered.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
At The Logical Indian, we celebrate purpose-driven changemakers like CFTI who turn empathy into action, shattering menstrual taboos and igniting rural women’s potential through innovative campaigns like “Cup of Care.”
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