Education
Health
Child Help Foundation Conducted Menstrual Health Programme Across India
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 12: Child Help Foundation (CHF), a Pan India non-profit organization, through its Menstrual Health Education and Sanitary Napkin Distribution Programme, Child Help Foundation (CHF) reached women and adolescent girls across multiple states, distributing sanitary napkin packets through targeted drives and dedicated awareness sessions on menstrual hygiene and health. Menstrual health remains one of the most overlooked barriers to a girl’s education and a woman’s dignity, particularly in communities where access to sanitary products is limited or disrupted by circumstances beyond their control.
Menstrual health remains one of the most overlooked barriers to a girl’s education and a woman’s dignity, particularly in communities where access to sanitary products is limited or disrupted by circumstances beyond their control.
Speaking on the programme, Mr. Shaji Varghese, CEO of Child Help Foundation, said, “Menstrual health is not just a matter of hygiene; it is a matter of dignity, confidence, and the right to continue education and daily life without interruption. CHF teams reached thousands of women and girls across Assam, Bihar, and Maharashtra, including communities still recovering from floods, and that reflects our commitment to ensuring that no woman or girl is left without support, regardless of the circumstances she faces.”
He further said, “Whether it is a flood-affected village in Assam, a ward in Bihar, or a children’s home in Mumbai, our approach remains the same: treat every woman and girl with the respect and care she deserves. Crossing millions of units distributed to date is not just a number for us; it represents thousands of days where a woman or girl did not have to choose between her health and her dignity. This programme will continue to expand, because dignity should never depend on where you live.”
The programme extended across the following states:
- Assam, where communities in Sivasagar, Tiwashong, and Paschim Nagaon continue to recover from severe flooding
- Bihar, with distributions carried out across Begusarai district
- Maharashtra, with a dedicated awareness session and distribution drive in Mumbai
In Assam, the initiative took on added significance given the scale of disruption caused by the recent floods. Over 200 adolescent girls residing at Kaumudalaya Children’s Home in the Jaysagar area of Sivasagar district received 1,200 units of sanitary napkins, ensuring that displacement and disaster did not compromise their basic health needs. A further distribution drive was carried out at Jamuna Road in Sivasagar district, reaching 250 families and benefiting 500 women with 3,000 units of sanitary napkins. Beyond Sivasagar, the programme’s reach extended into Tiwashong and Paschim Nagaon, covering schools, institutions, and child care centres across these flood-affected areas to support an additional 1,500 beneficiaries with 9,000 units of sanitary napkins. Together, these efforts formed part of a wider distribution delivering 12,000 units of sanitary napkins to 2,000 total beneficiaries across the three regions, reflecting CHF’s belief that relief work must include dignity, not just survival, and that menstrual hygiene cannot be treated as a lesser priority during times of crisis.
In Begusarai, Bihar, distribution drives were carried out through local Anganwadi Kendras, reaching 3,500 women and adolescent girls, each of whom received 72 units of sanitary napkins, delivering a total of 2,52,000 units across semi-urban and rural communities where access to sanitary products is often inconsistent, and awareness remains limited. These grassroots interventions continue to form the backbone of CHF’s presence in the state, reaching families who may otherwise go without this basic necessity.
The programme extended beyond distribution to education, with a Menstrual Health and Hygiene awareness session conducted for adolescents at Ankur Children’s Home, Mira Bhayandar, Maharashtra, where 288 units of sanitary napkins were distributed among the 48 beneficiaries. Jiji John, Executive Director of Child Help Foundation, was present at the session as a guest, spending time with the girls and encouraging them to speak openly about menstrual health and accept it as a natural, unremarkable part of life. His presence added weight to a conversation that continues to carry stigma in many communities, reminding the girls that their well-being matters at every level of the organisation. Sr. Nancy, In Charge of ANKUR Children’s Home, expressed her appreciation to Child Help Foundation for the collaboration and the impact it created among the girls at the home.
Altogether, August saw 2,64,288 units of sanitary napkins distributed across Assam, Bihar, and Maharashtra. This adds to a much larger body of work. As of March 2026, Child Help Foundation has distributed 4,30,472 units of sanitary napkins through this programme, excluding this month’s contribution, a number that reflects years of sustained commitment to menstrual health as a matter of basic dignity, not charity. Please check https://childhelpfoundation.in/help-direct/
Child Help Foundation remains committed to breaking the silence around menstrual health and ensuring that women and adolescent girls across India have access to the products, awareness, and support they need to live with dignity.
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Business
RERA Needs a More Balanced Approach to Protect Homebuyers and Enable Responsible Development
New Delhi [India], October 13: Dhanuka Infra Realty Ltd CEO Yogesh Dhanuka calls for greater accountability of approving authorities, practical reforms in escrow provisions and safeguards for commercial confidentiality
India’s real estate sector needs a regulatory framework that protects homebuyers while ensuring that responsible developers are not penalised for circumstances beyond their control, according to an industry perspective calling for the next phase of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) to focus on balanced accountability, transparency and time-bound approvals.
Introduced to bring greater transparency, accountability and discipline to the real estate sector, RERA has played an important role in addressing concerns around delayed possession, project disclosures and developer commitments. However, as the industry gains experience with the regulatory framework, questions are emerging over whether accountability should extend beyond developers to other stakeholders involved in the execution of real estate projects.
“RERA rightly made developers accountable. Now the approving authorities need to be accountable too. Fair rules for every party will protect buyers better than one-sided rules ever can,” CEO Yogesh Dhanuka states.
A real estate project typically involves multiple stakeholders, including government departments, municipal bodies, utility providers, financial institutions and environmental authorities. Delays in approvals, statutory clearances, utility connections or court proceedings can affect project timelines even when developers have completed their responsibilities.
Accountability Must Extend Across the Project Lifecycle
The industry view emphasises that developers should face consequences for delays arising from inadequate planning, financial mismanagement, poor execution or failure to honour commitments. However, delays attributable to external agencies should be assessed separately through a transparent and independent mechanism.
“Real estate development is a multi-agency process. A developer may be ready to deliver a project, but approvals, utility connections or other statutory clearances can lie beyond their control. Accountability must extend to every stakeholder in the chain, so that homebuyers are protected without penalising developers for delays they could not prevent,” Dhanuka Infra Realty Ltd CEO states.
Such an approach, it argues, would help distinguish between genuine developer defaults and delays caused by circumstances outside their reasonable control. It would also ensure that homebuyers receive appropriate protection without placing the entire burden of a multi-agency process on a single stakeholder.
Transparency Without Compromising Commercial Confidentiality
Another area identified for reconsideration is the extent of commercial information disclosed publicly under the regulatory framework.
Access to information on land titles, statutory approvals, construction progress, possession timelines and project-related commitments is essential for buyers to make informed decisions. However, the industry view suggests that disclosure requirements should distinguish between information necessary for consumer protection and sensitive commercial information that may not directly influence a buyer’s decision.
“Transparency is essential to building trust with homebuyers, but transparency should not mean that every commercial detail or engineering decision becomes public information. Buyers need clear information about approvals, project progress and delivery commitments. Detailed cost structures and proprietary designs, however, deserve reasonable safeguards against misuse,” Yogesh Dhanuka states.
The proposed approach would retain regulatory access to detailed project information while considering whether public disclosures could be limited to relevant summaries in certain areas. The objective would be to maintain accountability without unnecessarily exposing pricing strategies, project margins, inventory-related information or proprietary technical details.
Escrow Rules and Construction Cash Flow
The industry perspective also highlights the practical implications of RERA’s requirement that developers deposit 70% of the amounts realised from homebuyers into a separate account for land and construction costs.
While the provision is intended to safeguard buyer funds and prevent their diversion to unrelated projects, the timing of withdrawals can create operational challenges, particularly when developers need to make advance payments to suppliers for construction materials.
“The intent behind ring-fencing 70 per cent of homebuyer collections is understandable and important. The practical challenge arises when developers must pay advances to suppliers for essential construction materials while withdrawals remain linked to certified work completed. A project-sensitive mechanism that safeguards buyer funds while accommodating genuine supplier advances could improve execution without compromising financial discipline,” the CEO of Dhanuka Infra Realty Ltd. states.
A more flexible, appropriately monitored mechanism could help address legitimate procurement requirements while retaining safeguards against the misuse of homebuyer funds.
A More Predictable Regulatory Framework
The broader recommendation is to refine RERA’s implementation rather than dilute its core objectives. Proportionate compliance requirements, balanced appeal mechanisms and time-bound approvals could help improve predictability for both buyers and developers.
“Protecting homebuyers and enabling responsible real estate development are not competing objectives. Developers who default must face consequences, but the regulatory framework should also provide proportionate compliance, balanced appeal mechanisms and time-bound approvals. A fair and predictable system will strengthen buyer confidence while allowing genuine developers to deliver projects more efficiently,” Yogesh Dhanuka adds.
As India’s housing market evolves, the next phase of RERA could focus on ensuring that responsibility follows control, disclosures remain meaningful and regulatory processes account for the practical realities of construction.
The central objective, Yogesh Dhanuka concludes, should be a system that protects homebuyers, holds defaulting developers accountable and enables responsible businesses to complete projects efficiently. A balanced framework could strengthen trust across the sector while supporting more predictable and sustainable real estate development.
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