When a girl student asked a senior official why the the government could not provide sanitary pads, a senior woman official rebuked her with, “Tomorrow, you attain the age of family planning and you would expect government to provide Nirodh (condom) too.” A video in which Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Harjot Kaur Bamhrah is purportedly seen and heard responding thus went viral on social media on Wednesday.
Ms. Bamhrah, a 1992 batch IAS officer, is Principal Secretary, Women and Child Welfare Department, and also heads the Bihar Women and Child Development Corporation.
“When the government is providing us school uniform, scholarship and so many things, why can’t it provide Whisper [a brand of sanitary pads] of ₹20-30?” a government school student asks in the video of a ‘ Sashakt Beti, Samridh Bihar (empowered daughters, prosperous Bihar): Towards enhancing the value of girls’ workshop organised by the State Women and Child Development Corporation in association with UNICEF and other organisations.
