印度取消卫生巾税！这需要感谢宝莱坞“护垫侠”（双语）

　　印度政府21日宣布对卫生巾不再征收12%的消费税。一些女性权益保护团体估算，印度有大约80%的女性无力负担或者难以购得卫生用品。免税举措将帮助更多女性安然度过每个月的特殊日子，走进学校和职场。

　　Sanitary pads are now tax-free in India.

　　卫生巾在印度免税了。

　　The Indian government has decided to scrap a controversial 12% tax on the feminine hygiene products, it announced late Saturday, marking a victory for campaigners who have lobbied against the tax for more than a year.

　　印度政府周六晚间宣布，废除对女性卫生产品征收的12%税收，这一税收之前就备受争议。这标志着反对这项税收的活动人士一年多来的游说取得了胜利。

　　"[The country's] sisters and mothers will be happy to hear that sanitary pads have been given a 100% exemption and brought down to a tax rate of zero," the country's acting finance minister Piyush Goyal told reporters. "Now there will be no [tax] on sanitary pads."

　　印度代理财政部长皮尤什-戈亚尔告诉记者说：“所有女性听到卫生巾现在100%免税，税率为零的消息都会非常开心。以后卫生巾都不再收税了。”

　　Activists say removing the tax on pads tackles one of the biggest barriers to education for girls, who are often forced to stay at home due to a lack of access to clean hygiene products, while also facing stigma and a lack of toilets in schools.

　　活动人士称，取消卫生巾税解决了女孩接受教育的一个最大障碍。由于缺少卫生用品，再加上学校缺少卫生间，不少女生经期都羞于出门，无法上学。

　　Periods are among the leading factors for girls to drop out of school in India, where four out of five women and girls are estimated by campaigners to have no access to sanitary pads.

　　经期不方便成为印度女孩辍学的主要因素之一。印度一些女性权益保护团体估算，印度全国大约80%的女性经期没有卫生巾可用。

　　Last year, lawmaker Sushmita Dev launched a petition to demand a reduction or total removal of taxes on pads, citing that about 70 percent of women in India could not afford them.

　　去年，议员苏什米塔-德夫发起请愿，呼吁政府减免卫生巾税，称印度有70%的女性买不起卫生巾。

　　The online petition gained more than 400,000 signatures.

　　这次网上请愿征得超过40万个签名。

　　Dev thanked all her supporters in a tweet on Saturday, and also criticized the government for taking more than a year to remove the tax on sanitary pads.

　　倡导者德夫在周六的一条推文中感谢所有支持者，并批评政府花了一年多的时间才取消了这一税收。

　　很多人将取消卫生巾税与印度电影《护垫侠》联系在了一起。