Dalit woman fails to address UN

Patna, February 28Girija Devi, at last, failed to address the 50th convention of United Nations on women’s empowerment in New York on February 24. Girija Devi, an illiterate woman from a remote village of Motihari in Bihar, was the first Musahar (the most backward of backward) woman of India to be invited by the United Nations to address its session.But even though the voice of protest of Girija Devi, who heralded a revolution of sorts through her anti-liquor campaign to change the fate of Musahar in and around Motihari, was heard by the United Nations, it seemed to fall on deaf ears of the state administration and passport officials in India.This was despite the “do it now” slogan of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to change the lackadaisical work culture of babudom in the state.Musahar Bikas Mancha president Chandrika Maji alleged that Girija Devi was forced to run from pillar to post from Motihari to Patna by passport officials to get her passport. “Even the officials of the state administration were not prompt in helping her out,” he regretted.The passport office, finally, handed her the passport on February 25. But by then, it was too late to catch the flight to New Yorh as the convention began on February 24.The voice of the first Musahar woman, thus, ultimately remained unheard.