- Friday, October 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
She had put a simple question before a government official but what she got in response left everybody shocked.
It happened at a social event in Patna, the capital of the eastern state of Bihar, and with a school-going girl, on Tuesday (27), NDTV reported.
The teen, who comes from a slum, was present on the stage at a workshop on ‘Sashakt Beti, Samriddh Bihar‘ (Empowered Daughters, Prosperous Bihar). The tag of the project read: ‘Towards enhancing the value of girls’.
When she asked whether the government could give sanitary pads at Rs 20-30, Harjot Kaur Bhamra, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and head of Bihar’s Women and Child Development Corporation, taunted her in response saying, “Tomorrow you’ll say the government can give jeans too. And why not some beautiful shoes after that?”
And she did not stop there. Kaur also went on to tell the schoolgirl, “You will eventually expect the government to give you family planning methods, condoms, too.”
The student, unfazed, then reminded the official that people’s votes make governments but there, too, came a snarky response. Hearing the girl, Kaur said, “This is heights of stupidity. Don’t vote, then. Become Pakistan. Do you vote for money and services?” The student shot back at her, saying, “I am an Indian. Why should I?” the report added.
The entire exchange took place in Hindi.
The corporation organised the event in partnership with UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) and other organisations.
The IAS officer then told the audience, which mostly included girls from Class 9 and 10, “Why do you need to take anything from the government? This way of thinking is wrong. Do it yourself.”
When another student said the girls’ toilet in her school remained broken and that boys often enter it, the officer said, “Tell me, do you have separate toilets at home? If you keep asking for a lot things at different places, how will it work?”
