Vocational and social integration of transgenders in the society.

A befitting program when RI President John Germ has given a theme of Serving Humanity.

Each and every Rotarian who attended the program deserves accolades for accepting the fact transgenders are part of the society and their integration is as important as making toilets and educating the masses.

Soumili showcased an exhibition of crafts by transgenders and was inaugurated by DG Shyamashree Sen.

A national award winning short film by Pradeep Sarkar and another docu feature were shown before DG Shyamashree Sen who spoke on the purpose of the day.

She was followed by keynote speaker Urmi Basu who was at her eloquent best highlighting issues affecting transgender population.

Atri Kar spoke about her trials and tribulations in getting the basic rights as an individual followed Anubhuti's journey of transformation and acceptance at her work place TATA steel and with her family and friends.

President RC Calcutta Metropolitan made a landmark announcement of opportunities for transgenders for non armed security guard training at their Piyali Learning Centre.

Dance presentations by Indranil Mukherjee and Joy Das and Anandam led by Shintu were the highlights.

PDG Vijay Bhandari, PDG Uttam Ganguli, DGN Mukul Sinha, several Club Presidents, Assistant Governors and Rotarians graced the occasion, though the numbers of Rotarians left much to be desired perhaps highlighting the fact that we Rotarians are yet to feel the need to accord equal rights to the transgenders.

President RC Calcutta Sutanuti Partha Sengupta shall certainly be remembered in the annals as the most courageous President leading two path breaking programs during the year, the one on acid victims and this one on transgenders.

PP Sumita Mitra, PP Soumen Chatterjee and AG Anjan Roy also deserve special mention, with the tireless efforts of the first two and ideation of the last mentioned.

This is just a small step and those who still feel unable to accept the integration of transgenders please give it a thought and start treating all humans as equals.

Recently Indian Supreme Court has acknowledged transgender people as the third gender by amendment of Indian constitution, and it has created a special pulse over the nation.

By this amendment this third gender community will have their scheduled quota in job and educational institutions and they will be able to select their sex as a third gender.

This moderation obviously a significant progress toward eliminating the discrimination these people face in general, which is not only inhuman, it is against humanity as well.

As per the Constitution most of the protections under the Fundamental Rights Chapter are available to all persons with some rights being restricted to only citizens.

Beyond this categorization the Constitution makes no further distinction among rights holders.

Rotary International District 3291 and it is District governor Shyamashree Sen has been strong advocate of the equal rights for transgenders and thus the idea of hosting a seminar highlighting issues related to vocational integration as well as social integration.

The program features representatives from TATA Steel Ayushi Das and Anubhuti on vocational integration, Atri Kar speaking on social discrimination and the keynote speaker Ms Urmi Basu, Founder Director of New Light, internationally acclaimed activist working for their rights.

District governor Shyamashree Sen also spoke about Rotary’s initiative and Dr Sushanta Banerjee, Director American Centre shall share his experience of such an initiative at American Centre.