Transgender Celebrate National Transgender Day
Bureau,Odishabarta
Some milestones achieved but far to go, say leaders and participants
Bhubaneswar,15/04/21:The transgenders in the city celebrated the National Transgender Day to mark the seventh anniversary of the historic judgment by the Supreme Court of India in which the transgender were recognized as the “third gender.” The celebration was carried out at Kalinga Studio, Kinnar Basti, Bhubaneswar, while communities, members of civil society and supporters connected virtually from Jaipur, Delhi, and Pune.
On April 15, 2014, the Supreme Court delivered an important verdict, recognizing transgender as the “third gender”, going beyond the binary of female/male. The Court also ruled that transgender will be included in the list of backward communities and asked the central and state governments to ensure that they could access all the basic rights that were guaranteed under the Constitution. Since then, April 15 has been celebrated as the National Transgender Day.
For today’s event, SAKHA, a leading CBO working for the rights and entitlements of transgender, and the Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR), working on inclusive WASH and bettering access of marginalized groups to all social entitlements, joined hands to mark the day for advancing the rights of transgender, generating awareness and understanding on gender equality, social inclusion and facilitate participation and dialogue among all key stakeholders.
This year the Transgender Day 2021 comes at a time when the pandemic in many ways is dictating and dominating their lives and affecting them disproportionately with many struggling to make ends meet. Commenting on their employment opportunities, participants said transgender continued to be out of the mainstream and even when employed performed lowly jobs such as collecting waste, which gave them Rs 300-400.
At the event, Meghna Sahoo traced the journey of “Pariborton” Single Window since 2018, and said that the transgender self-help group, Sweekruti, formed by CFAR in 2018, was the first transgender SHG of Odisha. The group has become successful and has become a model in the state. At the panel discussion, three SHGs of men, women and transgender presented their experiences.
Transgender are also entitled to pensions, but many of them do not have the requisite documents to get the pensions. The District Social Security Officer for Khordha, Mr Prasanna Kumar Mallick said “The department will organize Aadhaar camps especially for the transgender so that more of them can be connected to social security schemes.” He also discussed inclusion of some transgender SHG in livelihoods in Khordha district. Under Sweekruti project, CFAR and Chetana Foundation will provide help to the department in mainstreaming transgender. He said if needed he would coordinate with BMC officials in the area.
Laying stress on the importance of education, Ms. Sushree Sujata Behera , PMU Cell, Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department (SSPED), said, “Education is a must for all communities and equally so for transgender. The department provides scholarships for transgender to support parents in educating them. I appeal to all transgender to complete their education.”
She added that 40 years ago, women were in a similar situation and were deprived of education. “Once the transgender get education, they can participate in all activities including livelihoods, and the government will give them all support.”
Akhila Sivadas, CFAR’s Executive Director, said, “While celebrating, we also need to ensure that the rights of the transgender are advanced and that they are recognized as equal members of society.” She added that the “the leadership of transgender persons such as Meghana Sahoo, Meera Parida, Sadhana Mishra, Rani Kinner, and many others needs to be supported and they need to be involved in decision-making for the advancement or integration of transgender in various social development welfare schemes and programmes.”
This event provided an opportunity for reflection and exchange to build a more nuanced understanding of the different gender realities especially in the context of WASH, livelihood and work participation of women, workers, trans-persons. Representatives of three Self-help Groups representing men, women and transgender shared their experiences of pursuing sanitation linked livelihood and the opportunities and challenges they are facing due to the pandemic.
The participants included Ms Meghana Sahoo, Secretary, Third Gender Welfare Trust, Ms. Sushree Sujata, SSEPD, Ms Samikshya Behera, NULM South west Zone BMC and Mr. Prassan Kumar Mallick, DSSO, Khurda and Ms. Aishwarya Rituparna Pradhan, CT & GST Officer, Bhubaneswar Circle III, representatives of the community including transgender, women and men and partners.
Water for Women: Mobilizing, Facilitating and Replicating Socially Inclusive WASH Initiatives in India’s Urban Slums, implemented by CFAR, Bhubaneswar supported by Water for Women Fund, Government of Australia
