Pointing out stories you may have missed. What would you do if national requirements made it mandatory to reveal information about menstrual cycles? The BBC's Monica Chadha has highlighted a ridiculous requirement by the Indian bureaucracy. This is an edited version of her report.Women civil servants in India have expressed shock at new appraisal rules which require them to reveal details of their menstrual cycles. Under the new nationwide requirements, female officials also have to say when they last sought maternity leave. Women civil servants say the questions are a gross invasion of privacy. One told the BBC she was `gobsmacked'.
Annual appraisals and health checks are mandatory in India's civil service. The ministry was unavailable for comment. But one of its most senior bureaucrats was quoted in the press as saying the new questions had been based on advice from health officials. The questions at the root of the controversy are on page 58 of the new appraisal forms for the current year issued by the Federal Ministry for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
Women officers must write down their "detailed menstrual history and history of LMP (last menstrual period) including date of last confinement (maternity leave)," the form says. Women working in the Indian civil service told the BBC the government had no need for this kind of personal information.
"I am completely shocked!" said Sharwari Gokhale, environment secretary in western Maharashtra state. "I have absolutely no words to describe how I feel and I have no intention of telling them anything about my personal life." Gokhale said she had also served in the personnel department at the ministry which drafted the new forms and, while the health of officials was always a concern, asking such questions never crossed their minds.
Maharashtra's joint secretary for general administration, Seema Vyas, agreed that the new questions were uncalled for.
