Bihar’s IAS officer Harjot Kaur Bhamra. YouTube/Fabian Media
A senior IAS officer in Bihar stirred controversy by responding insensitively to students who asked for free sanitary pads at an event conducted in the state capital Patna. According to reports, Harjot Kaur Bamhrah, the managing director of the Bihar Women Development Corporation, was asked if the state government could provide free sanitary pads during a seminar on “Sashakt Beti, Samriddh Bihar”.
To the query, Bamhrah replied, “Today you are asking for sanitary pads, tomorrow you will ask for condoms. Why do you need to take things from the government? The officer continued by adding, “This mentality is incorrect.”
The girls challenged Bamhrah after listening to her response and claimed that the government makes numerous promises in order to secure votes. Bamhrah came up with another shocking reply and said, “Then give no vote. Turn into Pakistan.” The girl’s response was that she won’t go to Pakistan because she is an Indian. “By using taxpayer funds, the government is able to provide facilities. Why would taxpayers not request the services if they are paying money to the government?” she further enquired.
Another female student said that there were issues with the girls’ toilets at her school because the boys sometimes enter the same toilets. Many in the audience were stunned and appalled at the tone of the senior IAS officer who demeaned the female students by asking them if every student in the room has separate toilets for males and females at home.
The entire conversation was recorded, and the video is being extensively circulated on social media. People went on to slam the IAS officer for her choice of words during the public event.
A person wrote, “Giving girls free sanitary pads has a high correlation with girls staying in school and not dropping out. Bihar has a problem with retaining girls in school.”
Another one noted, “It’s very shameful that an IAS officer of Bihar discourages a girl from demanding even basic things for maintaining proper hygiene.”
An individual suggested, “Instead of talking such non-sense thing, she could have initiated a project to manufacture sanitary napkins at every taluka level in Bihar. It can create jobs for women as also it doesn’t involve much investment.”
Angry citizens also reminded the officer of her duties as a public servant.
A user marked it as a “time to abolish arrogant, corrupted, feudalistic all India services.”
Here are some other notable reactions:
Referring to the viral video, Bamhrah told the media personnel present, “It’s all fake, malicious, and incorrect reporting of an occurrence. I’m regarded as one of the loudest advocates of women’s rights and empowerment. Such desperate measures to damage my reputation may have been taken by some cunning individuals.”
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