Guwahati, Nov 10: The Assam directorate of social justice and empowerment on Friday organised a zonal awareness programme here for stakeholders on the rights and privileges of the transgender community.
The main objective of the day-long awareness programme was to educate the wider community about transgender and gender non-conforming people alongside with the issues associated with their transition and identity, awareness and perception in the field, directorates, various departments, districts and aligned departments which have very less knowledge about the transgender community.
Kishore Thakuria, director of social justice and empowerment, Assam, in his keynote address, underlined the need to raise mass awareness and sensitisation of transgender rights and develop capacity of relevant stakeholders to enforce rights.
“Large scale sensitisation is needed from the school level to see transgender not as an aberration, but as an integral and productive component of social life,” Thakuria said.
The programme was also attended by K.J Hilaly, secretary to the department of social justice and empowerment, Assam; Anurag Goel, chief electoral officer, Assam; Bhaskar Das, joint secretary to the department of social justice and empowerment, Assam; Rituparna Neog, associate vice chairperson, Transgender Welfare Board; Mythili Hazarika, associate professor of clinical psychology, Guwahati Medical College and Hospital; Debasmita Ghosh, advocate, Human Rights Law Network and Rashmi Baruah Gogoi, joint director of social justice and empowerment .
The programme was also attended by stakeholders, including district social welfare officers, centre managers of one stop centres of Kamrup (Metro), Kamrup, Nagaon, Morigaon, Darrang and Nalbari districts, police department, Secondary Education Board of Assam, Child Line 1098 of Kamrup (Metro), Kamrup, Nagaon, Morigaon, Darrang, Nalbari district and directorate of health services.
Multiple sessions held during the programme covered specific aspects of the transgender community, including their mental health and emotional wellbeing, understanding the transgender community and discussion on challenges faced by transgender people related to voter identity and electoral photo identity cards, etc.
During the open session, people from the transgender community shared their personal experiences and social stigma faced by them in their daily lives.
