August 13, 2015
Transgender youth to be Eco Park guides
For transgender people and sex-workers’ children, finding employment and respectability have never been easy. There has been little hope for the marginalized people despite sustained campaigns and alterations in their legal status. In an effort to change the scene, the state-owned Hidco, along with an NGO, will appoint 15 transgender persons and sex workers’ kids to work as guides at Eco Park in Rajarhat. The new service, for which visitors will be able to choose and appoint guides online, will be inaugurated on August 15.
The 480-acre park will launch Eco Walk that aims at making “freedom more meaningful to the youth from marginalized background. These people are refused jobs for no fault of theirs. But they could be trained to work in sectors like tourism, like in south-east Asian countries. The fact that a government agency has taken the initiative to employ them will go a long way in turning things around. Every visitor will have to pay Rs 500 for the two-hour walk. HIDCO is aiming at NRIs and foreign visitors, though the facility will be available to all. They will get deserve equal opportunities. By appointing them, the authorities hope to make a beginning for them.
The West Bengal Government has taken special initiatives to upgrade status of the highly marginalised and vulnerable transgenders who are lagging behind on human development indices mainly in the areas of education and employment.
The first meeting of the West Bengal Transgender Development Board (WBTDB), set up by the state government was held at Nabanna, the State Secretariat ion July. Constituted through a resolution of the cabinet, the Board comprised of four official and nine non-official members, who were present in the meeting to discuss among other things, rehabilitation and welfare of the transgender community.
Recently Prof Manabi Bandyopadhyay took charge of the Krishnanagar Women’s College, becoming the country’s first transgender principal of the country.
