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Menstrual hygiene is an issue that every girl has to deal with from adolescence until menopause. Bringing the issue of menstrual hygiene management (MHM) out of the closet has been a constant struggle and challenge, even in a progressive state like Maharashtra, India, where nearly 19 million adolescent girls and women of menstrual age live (55 per cent of total rural female population of the state, GoI, 2011). Field studies by UNICEF suggest only 13 per cent of menstruating adolescent girls between 11 and 19 years of age were aware of menstruation before menarche and 60–70 per cent of adolescent girls do not attend school during their time of menstruation. Also, 84 per cent report the absence of a place to change absorbents at school. Girls simply stay away from school to avoid staining and embarrassment. Given the nature of the findings, which involves both demand (awareness) and supply (access) interventions, this paper proposes a framework of enabling factors at five levels: awareness, aspiration, affordability, availability, and access. The paper looks at an approach to design and implement MHM programmes with scale, and concludes with recommendations based on systemic challenges in the overall political and administrative priority for MHM programmes in India with reference to Maharashtra.

Objectives To assess the gaps and trends in child immunization coverage among urban and rural areas in India, and compare the success of immunisation program in each. Methods PubMed, Scopus, and Crossref, and Google Scholar electronic databases were searched on October 9, 2019, and March 21, 2020, for studies that measured and reported immunization coverage indicators in India. Random-effects meta-analyses and meta-regressions were conducted. Results The authors' search identified 545 studies, and 2 were obtained by expert suggestion. Among these 68 studies and 6 surveys were included. They found that full immunization coverage has grown yearly at 2.65% and 0.82% in rural and urban areas, respectively whereas partial immunization coverage declined by −2.44% and −0.69%, respectively. Percentage of nonimmunized children did not show a statistically significant trend in either. Conclusion While rural immunization coverage has seen a large increase over the past two decades, the progress in urban areas is weak and negligible. This was largely attributable to a focus on minimizing dropouts in rural areas. However, a lack of significant reduction in unimmunized children may indicate left-out children or pockets in both rural and urban areas. The poor performance of immunization programs in urban areas, coupled with a larger impact of COVID-19, warrants that India urgently adopts urban-sensitive and urban-focused policies and programs.

Increasing urbanisation and rising economic inequality are concomitant in India. Though studies have examined the level, pattern and trend of urbanisation in Maharashtra, no attempt has been made to examine the level of well-being across local bodies in urban India. Using data from the Census of India 2011, this paper examines the variations in community and household well-being in the Municipal Corporations of Maharashtra. Two composite indices of well-being, namely, Community Well-being Index (CWI) and Household Well-being Index (HWI) are used to depict the state of well-being at the community and household levels respectively. Results suggest large variations in HWI and CWI across the Municipal Corporations of Maharashtra. The correlation coefficient of HWI and CWI was 0.51. We observe varying patterns of CWI and HWI. Malegaon, Solapur, Nanded-Waghala, Akola Municipal Corporations are deprived at both CWI and HWI. Chandrapur and Parbhani Corporations, have higher HWI compare to CWI. The Kalyan-Dombivli Corporation ranked first while Parbhani Municipal Corporation ranked the least in CWI among all 27 Corporations in Maharashtra. Similarly, Panvel Corporation with a HWI value of 0.97ranked first and Bhiwandi-Nizampur ranked least. Corporations that perform poorly in HWI and CWI should be accorded priority in the State's plan and policies.

Till recently child marriages flourished in the backward district of Rajgarh in western Madhya Pradesh. But a concerted campaign against child marriages by the district administration for past three years has resulted in averting 90 per cent of engagements from culminating into child marriages.

Borassus flabellifer (palmyra palm) is a versatile tree of the Arecaceae family, widely used for various applications. The peels of its sprouts, often discarded as waste, are a rich source of cellulose that can be utilized to produce biodegradable materials. The study focuses on synthesizing carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) from Borassus flabellifer sprout peel and evaluating its physicochemical, structural, and functional properties for the developed biodegradable films. CMC achieved a yield of 41.22%, with a degree of substitution of 0.26 ± 0.01, a moisture content of 10.79 ± 0.95%, and an ash content of 3.05 ± 0.81%, confirming high purity. FT-IR analysis confirmed the presence of carbonyl stretching peaks at 1726.29 cm −1 and 1157.29 cm −1 , while XRD peaks at 20.97° and 26.67° indicated reduced crystallinity and increased amorphous content. SEM analysis revealed significant structural modifications with a disordered morphology in the synthesized CMC. Thermal analysis showed a prominent endothermic peak at 160 °C, demonstrating thermal stability similar to commercial CMC. CMC was blended with PVA to develop biodegradable films evaluated for quality parameters. Increased BF-CMC concentration enhanced film opacity, moisture content, and GSM, while reducing thickness and transparency. Films plasticized with PEG showed lower moisture content and higher solubility compared to glycerol-plasticized films. Tensile strength improved with PEG addition, while higher PVA and lower CMC concentrations enhanced elongation percentage. Water vapour permeability was influenced by plasticizer type and concentration. The films demonstrated antimicrobial activity due to bioactive compounds in BF sprout peel, showing significant inhibition against pathogenic microorganisms and free radical scavenging activity. Biodegradability tests confirmed high degradation rates, with over 50% decomposition within 15 days, highlighting their potential as sustainable packaging materials. Graphical abstract