A Pakistan girl featuring as the "brand ambassador" of a government-run programme has triggered a major controversy in Bihar, following which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ordered a probe into the incident. In Bihar's Jamui district, the photograph of a young Pakistani girl has been printed on the cover page of a booklet and other stationery, published by the district administration to promote 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' and 'Swachha Jamui, Swastha Jamui' programmes (logos of which are also printed on the same page).
The photograph shows the girl, around 5-6 years of age sporting a blue kurta and white dupatta.
She is seen drawing the national flag of Pakistan in her notebook.
Officials said, around 5,000 copies of the promotional material were printed and distributed among school students, anganwadi centres and Kasturba Gandhi Vidyalaya in the district, in a bid to popularise the government programmes in December last year.
On Saturday, the CM took cognisance of the matter and ordered Jamui district magistrate (DM) Dharmendra Kumar to conduct a detailed probe. "Initial investigation revealed that the photograph was used by the UNICEF and some other organisations in Pakistan for female literacy campaigns. As to how it made it to the cover page of our promotional material is being probed," said a senior official from Jamui district administration.
He said that efforts were on to withdraw the notebooks, if they were still being used by the students, and action will be taken against those responsible for the goof-up.
Another official said that former DM Kaushal Kishore had approved the printing of the promotional items, but who specifically chose the photo - campaign officials or the printer - is yet to be ascertained. The Patna-based printing press - Suprabh Enterprises has denied the charges. Its representative Shailesh said the printing matter was approved by the district administration.
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