NEW DELHI: IIT-Delhi student Archit Agarwal seems to be influenced by Bollywood movie Padman. On the Menstrual Hygiene Day, which falls on Tuesday, Agarwal will reach out to more women through an online campaign that ‘take a stand not to sit on dirty public toilet seats.’
Women can log on to ‘www.standupforyourself.in’ and take a pledge and share their pledge on social media to avoid the spread of Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and be safe from public washrooms. At least 10,000 boxes of the stand and related products have been sold so far, the student claimed.
In March, Agarwal developed a period pain relief roll, Sanfe Stand and Pee Product, which gives women — suffering from period cramp — the freedom to urinate without coming in contact of dirty public toilet seats.
The innovator thinks despite availability of such products, there is a lack of awareness among women. “I felt the responsibility to create awareness as well. My campaign tells women that if you ever had to hold up urine in the fear of going to dirty public rest room, spread awareness by signing the pledge and sharing it on social media,” Agarwal, who is in his fourth year of IIT-Delhi’s textile technology department, told The Morning Standard.
For each pledge, Agarwal and his team are donating Rs 10 to the NGOs for cleaning of toilet seats to prevent spread of UTIs. “Fifty per cent women in India get UTIs while 71 per cent public washrooms are not cleaned on a regular basis. I want them to stand up against the infection they contract at dirty public toilets. I am going to work and invent products for women empowerment all my life.”
More in the pipeline
The 21–year-old student from Delhi is also working on more products, essentially for helping women during menstruation, which will be launched in the coming months.