New Delhi: An IAS officer courted controversy after her shocking reply to a schoolgirl in Bihar who asked her if there is a possibility of the government providing sanitary pads at affordable prices. Harjot Kaur, who is the managing director of Bihar Women Development Corporation, said, “Today you are asking for sanitary pads, tomorrow you will ask for condoms.” The exchange of words took place at a workshop ‘Sashakt Beti, Samriddh Bihar’ with a tagline ‘Towards enhancing the value of girls’.
The video of the conversation in Hindi, that has gone viral on the social media, starts when a girl student asked if the government could provide sanitary pads to them for Rs 20-30, to which Kaur gave a snarky reply. She said, “Tomorrow you'll say the government can give jeans too. And why not some beautiful shoes after that? You will eventually expect the government to give you family planning methods, condoms, too.”
As the student retorted that it’s the people’s votes that make a government, Kaur said, “This is heights of stupidity. Don't vote, then. Become Pakistan. Do you vote for money and services?”
Realising her remarks could draw flak from the audience, Kaur said, “Why do you need to take anything from the government? This way of thinking is wrong. Do it yourself.”
However, the shocker did not end here.
Responding to the complaint by student who alleged that the girls' toilet in her school remains in dilapidated condition and that boys often enter, the IAS 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?”
Despite the video of the event having gone viral, the officer refuted whatever she said and added, “It's false, malicious and wrong reporting of an event,” as reported by NDTV.