In India, nearly 12 billion sanitary pads are disposed of annually, with 98% ending up in landfills, lakes, seas, and oceans. One woman who uses menstrual hygiene products can use between 10,000 and 12,000 pads in her lifetime, each containing about 90% plastic and capable of decomposing for up to 800 years.
Sarika Patak, a mechanical engineer from Pune University with a master's degree in industrial design from Philadelphia, initially questioned how a product used for only a few hours could remain in the environment for 500–800 years. This question resurfaced while working at the startup Padcare Labs, which focuses on menstrual waste disposal technologies. She soon realized that the problem lay not only in how the pads were discarded but also in their very design.
This led to the creation of Cresa, a startup founded in 2021 in Pune with her father, Mohan Kulkarni. Cresa, which means 'Creative Sanitation,' has developed a hot-water soluble pad certified as fully biodegradable, free from plastic and chemicals. Unlike traditional pads made up of almost 90% plastic, every layer of Cresa, including the absorbent material, is made from plant and starch components.
According to Patak, after use, the pad dissolves in hot water in about 80 seconds and completely breaks down within a month after flushing, which is significantly faster than the six-to-eight-month period characteristic of modern compostable pads. During one composting test, the company grew plants directly in the compost derived from used Cresa pads.
The product is available in XL size (280 mm pad) for 235 rupees per pack of 10 and is sold through platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, JioMart, Tata 1mg, Meesho, and Glowroad. Patak believes that eliminating the plastic top layer and the petrochemical absorbent core also enhances comfort. She noted that women often perceive irritation and rashes as an inherent part of the menstrual cycle, and she aims to change this norm.
According to her data, the plant layers of Cresa feel like cotton, and since launch, the company has received no complaints of rashes. In a survey of 500 beneficiaries, most of whom were rural women, 95.6% rated the product as extremely comfortable without rashes, and 89% gave it the highest recommendation.
The company's approach also transforms the post-use process of the pad. Patak points out that sanitary waste does not fit into India's existing segregated solid waste collection systems (wet or dry collection). Typically, used pads are collected with other waste before going to landfills, water bodies, or incinerators. Previously, waste collectors often had to manually sort them, exposing themselves to health risks and depriving invisible labor of dignity.
For users, disposal is also linked to social burden: pads are carefully wrapped to conceal them, reflecting the stigma surrounding menstruation in many homes and public places. Cresa aims to eliminate this entire process: used pads dissolve in hot water, removing the need for wrapping, collection, or landfill disposal.
Despite online sales, Patak notes that e-commerce is insufficient to reach many women in second and third-tier cities. To bridge this gap, the startup collaborates with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. Cresa's partners include Coca-Cola, NASDAQ, the Government of Maharashtra, NABARD, as well as NGOs such as Y4D Foundation, Being Volunteer Foundation, Family Service Centre, and Humjoli Foundation.
As part of an ongoing initiative supported by NASDAQ, 90,000 pads are planned to be distributed among 1,000 beneficiaries over nine months. To date, Cresa has sold over 250,000 pads and reports high repeat demand from Hyderabad and Kerala.
The company's revenue grew from 8.2 lakh rupees in fiscal year 24 during beta testing to 43 lakh rupees in fiscal year 25. Product development took four years of research and development at the Michigan Institute of World Peace (MIT World Peace University) chemical engineering laboratories.
During this period, the team identified two main challenges: dependence on external suppliers of specialized materials and helping users adopt a new disposal habit—using hot water instead of throwing pads in the trash bin. To reduce supplier dependency, Cresa developed its own bio-based film, which remains sealed during use but disintegrates upon contact with water. This material became the basis for Cresa's next product—a fully water-soluble pad that dissolves in water, eliminating the need for hot water. According to Patak, currently, there is no commercially available product with this function in India; the new pad is in the final stages of certification before launch.
The startup has been granted Indian patents for the hot-water dissolvable pad and for a dispenser designed for Western toilets, which turns used pads into a suspension in public restrooms. Patak also holds a third patent obtained during her early work at Johnson & Johnson, valid in 20 countries, including the USA, China, and Brazil.
Before launch, Cresa received composting, quality, and ISO certifications. Since then, it has received several awards, including the Bio-startup Award from the Indian Society of Microbiologists, the FINNAPP Innovation Award, and winning the Prabhaav Innovation Challenge at IIT Palakkad.
Cresa was funded through personal investments and government and CSR grants. Patak invested her savings accumulated over years in the USA; her father and co-founder supported these investments. Later, the company received milestone-based grants, including 7 lakh rupees from the CSR Dana Care Foundation program in December 2021, 8 lakh rupees under Nidhi Prayas through Bhau Institute COEP in March 2022, 15 lakh rupees from the Startup India Seed Fund in September 2022, 18 lakh rupees from HDFC Smart Parivartan in April 2023, another 25 lakh rupees from the Startup India Seed Fund tranche via SINE IIT Bombay in October 2023, and 5 lakh rupees under the Akhiladevi Holkar Women Entrepreneurship Scheme in March 2025.
Currently, the startup is seeking investors and channel partners to support the next stage of growth. Priorities include launching the fully water-soluble pad after certification completion and reducing the cost of the existing hot-water dissolvable product. Patak notes: 'We cannot compete with plastic prices, but we can offer a competitive range for compostable or biodegradable pads in the market.' Other brands operating in the sustainable menstrual hygiene sector include Saathi, Noraa, and Pee Safe. The company is also exploring export markets and has begun researching water-soluble diapers, which face many of the same disposal issues as pads.
Mint brings freshness to beverages like lemonade and shikanji during the summer season, and it is also used to make chutney with coriander leaves. Often people buy bunches of mint from the market, but now there is no need to buy mint from the market daily.
This article explains how to grow a mint plant in a small pot at home, which does not require buying seeds or bringing a plant from a nursery. A new plant can be prepared from fresh mint stems bought from a vegetable market or grocery store, and after a little care, this plant will provide fresh mint for months.
In conditions of intense heat and high humidity, people actively use air conditioners and refrigerators, which raises concerns about high electricity bills. However, residents who have installed solar panels on their roofs under the government's Prime Minister Solar Home Scheme (PM Surya Ghar Yojna Muft Bijli Yojna) enjoy coolness without bill stress, as they are provided with 300 units of free electricity.
The number of beneficiaries utilizing the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Scheme is constantly growing, and this initiative has now reached an important milestone. According to the latest data, the program covers over 50.06 lakh homes, freeing them from billing worries. Thanks to these panels, concerns about electricity bills disappear for up to 25 years, as the lifespan of these panels is estimated at approximately 25 years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched this free electricity program in February 2024, and in just over two years, it surpassed the mark of 5 million homes. The government has set a target to install solar panels on the roofs of 10 million homes. Today, PM Surya Ghar Yojna helps 100 thousand homes every six days, making it one of the fastest-growing clean energy programs globally.
The PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana demonstrates significant growth compared to 7.94 lakh rooftop solar panel installations over the last ten years. Government expenditure on this scheme amounts to 75,021 crore rupees. The pace of solar panel installation in the last nine months has increased by 3.2 times. In October 2025, 5,038 installations were registered daily, whereas in July 2026, this figure reached about 16,328, marking the highest monthly figure since launch.
Only in July did the program assist 5.06 lakh families. Furthermore, in addition to 300 units of free electricity, the central government provides a substantial subsidy of up to 78,000 rupees for solar panel installation costs through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) directly to the beneficiaries' bank accounts. To date, subsidies amounting to 28,024 crore rupees have been disbursed under the scheme. Additionally, in the fiscal year 25, over 12 lakh families earned 421 crore rupees by selling surplus electricity. Each family that feeds energy back into the grid receives an additional annual income of about 3,500 rupees.
According to recent data, thanks to the PM Surya Ghar program, electricity bills for about 19 lakh families across the country have become zero, reducing their financial burden. This scheme has also created a large ecosystem for contractors and employment, with 34,219 registered contractors operating in the country, of whom 29,469 are active.
After receiving approval, applicants can install solar panels from a registered contractor of their Distribution Company (DISCOM). After installation, an application must be submitted for a net meter with installation details. Upon meter installation and verification by the DISCOM, a commissioning certificate will be issued. After this certificate is issued, the applicant will provide bank account details and a cancelled cheque via the portal, to which the subsidy will be credited.
Fresh mint grown at home can be used in many ways.
