Arunachalam Muruganantham
| Arunachalam Muruganantham | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1962 (age 54–55) Coimbatore, Madras State (now Tamil Nadu), India |
| Occupation | Inventor and social entrepreneur |
| Organization | Jayaashree Industries |
| Home town | Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Website | newinventions |
Arunachalam Muruganantham (Tamil: அருணாசலம் முருகானந்தம்) (born 1962) is a social entrepreneur from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India. He is the inventor of a low-cost sanitary pad making machine and has innovated grass-roots mechanisms for generating awareness about traditional unhygienic practices around menstruation in rural India. His mini-machines, which can manufacture sanitary pads for less than a third of the cost of commercial pads, have been installed in 23 of the 29 states of India. He is currently planning to expand the production of these machines to 106 nations.
In 2014, TIME magazine placed him in its list of 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2016, he was awarded Padma Shri by Government of India.
Muruganantham was born in 1962 to S. Arunachalam and A. Vanita, hand-loom weavers in Coimbatore, India. Muruganantham grew up in poverty after his father died in a road accident. His mother worked as a farm laborer to help in his studies. However, at the age of 14, he dropped out of school. He supplied food to factory workers and took up various jobs as machine tool operator, yam selling agent, farm laborer, welder, etc. to support his family.
In 1998, he got married to Shanthi. Shortly after, Murugananthan discovered his wife collecting filthy rags and newspapers to use during her menstrual cycle, as sanitary napkins made by multinational corporations were expensive. Troubled by this, he started designing experimental pads. Initially, he made pads out of cotton, but these were rejected by his wife and sisters. Eventually, they stopped co-operating with him and refused to be the test subjects for his innovations. He realized that the raw materials cost 10 paise ($0.002), but the end product sold for 40 times that price. He looked for female volunteers who could test his inventions, but most were too shy to discuss their menstrual issues with him. He started testing it on himself, using a bladder with animal blood, but became the subject of ridicule when the "sanitary pad" was discovered in his village. As menstruation is a taboo subject in India, it left him ostracized by his community and family. He distributed his products free to girls in a local medical college, provided they returned them to him after use.
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