I’m hazarding a guess here, but I really don’t think Mr Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister of India, has any clue of the deep thought that goes into buying sanitary napkins every month. Whisper has a new Pink version out. It’s 2XSofter than the other versions and costs Rs 285 for a pack of 30. Going by the latest Goods Service Tax bracket sanitary napkins fall under, more than Rs 30 of that would be tax. A box of OB tampons cost Rs 120. In a month, you would usually require 2 boxes, that’s Rs 240, out of which Rs 20 would be tax. Despite the price, we’ll buy whatever product will make our lives more comfortable for those few days.

The GST Council declared the tax rates for 1211 items on May 18. Live horses, sanitary napkins and tampons all fall under the 12 per cent tax bracket. There’s 5 per cent tax on human hair and semen (frozen and solid). And wait for it, essential items which we Indians can’t do without, and which therefore will not have any tax levied on them are – fresh milk, condoms, contraceptives, sindoor, bindis, alta and artichokes! Really, I kid you not. Artichokes.

It’s good to know that while the government does care that ovulating women don’t get knocked up, they don’t care that they pay less for being comfortable because they’re ovulating.  Women didn’t choose to menstruate. But women do choose to have sex – usually. (In India, and many Indian marriages, this is of course not a truism.) One would think that this truism that all women menstruate whether we like it or not for the better part of our lives, would lead the government to understand that sanitary napkins or tampons are essential items and not luxury items.

There is nothing luxurious either about buying or wearing sanitary napkins or tampons – and I wish someone would tell this to men who take decisions for women.

Simply put, all women can do without sindoor, bindis, alta, artichokes – but not one woman would give up a chance to have a sanitary napkin when she needs one. So what gives? Why does the government not realise that they should make life for Indian women a little easier and cheaper? To give some credit to the government, this tax bracket is an improvement since sanitary napkins were earlier taxed 14.5 per cent. But one wrong doesn’t make another wrong right. Much like 1984 doesn’t make 2002 right.

This decision isn’t strange though. The government has never really cared about feminine rights, comfort or needs in India. And this is the most basic need which affects all women – irrespective of economic background. Approximately 355 million people menstruate in India. Of these, according to the NGO SheSays, only 12 per cent have access to sanitary napkins. The remaining 88 per cent are managing with cloth pads, dried leaves or newspapers.

Most government and rural schools in India do not have separate toilets for girls. As Vice reported, in urban Mumbai till 2012 there were 10,000 public toilets for more than 20 million people of which women could use only 37 per cent. Most toilets in India charge women between Rs 1 and Rs 5 to use the toilet each time. That means a woman will spend an average of Rs 20 each day.

Neither has the government built enough public toilets in towns and cities, nor in schools. According to a report by NGO Devalt, only 58.82 per cent of schools in India have separate toilets for girls. Some schools only have a single toilet, which is rarely clean. According to BBC, 23 per cent of girls in India drop out of school once they start menstruating mainly because of inadequate toilet facilities. Most adolescent girls miss school for five to six days every month while menstruating, ultimately dropping out of school completely. 34 per cent of girls complete school, compared to 49 per cent of boys. Also, approximately 70 per cent of all reproductive diseases in India are caused by poor menstrual hygiene – also affecting maternal mortality.

One would think that realising these facts, the government would not only ensure sanitary napkins remain as cheap as possible, but they build as many toilets as possible. But that would be too taxing for the government. Far easier to tax women for basic rights.

Shouldn’t the government either develop cheaper sanitary napkins or enrol someone like Arunachalam Muruganantham to create more affordable sanitary napkins? But no, it’s left to people like Muruganantham to develop pads and distribute them in BIMARU areas. Muruganantham sells his machines to women who then make and sell the pads. “A manual machine costs around 75,000 Indian rupees (£723) – a semi-automated machine costs more. Each machine converts 3,000 women to pad usage, and provides employment for 10. They can produce 200-250 pads a day which sell for an average of about 2.5 rupees (£0.025) each”.

I honestly couldn’t give a damn if women want to dust their entire face with sindoor and wear 100 bindis and dip their body in alta. But I do care if my sanitary napkin which I have to buy every month, for no fault of mine, is going to get taxed while rubbish un-essential products aren’t. A right-thinking person would expect that the government would realise that the last thing you tax is any product which can add some comfort to the frankly wretched experience of menstruating every month. But more fool you. Go bleed in the corner while wearing a bindi.

It’s a simple case of priorities and of a man taking a decision which will affect women. You can’t help but roll your eyes at a man spearheading a team which feels that bindis being exempt from tax are more beneficial to women than sanitary napkins and tampons being exempt. I’d recommend that the finance minister’s team listen to Uma Bharti and Maneka Gandhi – women, not men – on what women want. (And once again, it’s not a pretty tax-free bindi.) It’s quite a shame to literally try and make money off the blood of women. No?