Twenty-one-year-old Sobhan Mukherjee has come up with a unique initiative in Kolkata – separate toilets for the transgender community.
The move has been widely hailed as it is perhaps for the first time in India that such toilets have been conceived for the transgender people who are still considered pariahs.
Mukherjee managed to convince his local municipal councillor, Anita Kar Majumdar, to set aside two washrooms exclusively for the ‘others’ in the four pay-and-use toilets, in south Kolkata’s Bansdroni area.
Emergence of Tridhara Toilets
He has named the toilets ‘Tridhara’ (third power) as he considers that the transgender community is the third power in the society after the male and the female. The young graduate says that he was deeply moved by the indifferent attitude towards the community and always wanted to do something for them.
I was deeply moved by the plight of the transgender people as they are also part of the society, but are often humiliated and insulted. I thought that enough has been written about their condition and it’s now time to do something for themSobhan Mukherjee
The young graduate certainly deserves kudos for his work, but according to members belonging to the third sex a lot needs to be done.
Opening a toilet, that too by an individual, shows the lacklustre approach by the government in lending a helping hand to the transgender community.
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Recognition as ‘Equal Citizens’
The Centre had issued a directive in April this year that allowed transgender individuals to use toilets for men and women in the country.
On 3 April 2017, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation issued guidelines to the Swachh Bharat Gramin Mission and stated that members belonging to the third gender should be allowed to use public toilets, either male or female, of their choice. The statement mentioned that a “conscious effort” should be made to ensure that members of the transgender community are “recognised as equal citizens and users of toilets” under the ‘inclusivity’ norm.
Earlier, the Supreme Court in 2014 had recognised transgender people as the ‘third gender,’ which also included an order for separate toilets for members of the community in public places, but is yet to be implemented across the country.
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Need for Gender Sensitisation
The transgender community says that the concept of inclusivity is a far cry as they are not allowed to use public toilets and face harassment on a daily basis.
We are still bullied and harassed and nothing has changed. We also face problems in hospitals since doctors are unable to decide where to admit us due to the absence of gender neutrality. I even had to spend a night in a burns ward at a government hospital after doctors refused to shift me where other patients were being treatedRaina Roy
The government should understand that gender sensitisation is needed to save us from abuses and sexual harassment. I strongly demand access in toilets at Sulabh complexes across the countryRaina Roy
Bengal Govt’s Transgender Development Board
Even the West Bengal government cannot escape from its own share of blame. The government had set up a Transgender Development Board in March 2015 with an aim to look into the educational, employment and healthcare needs of the community.
The board comprising 12 members included representatives from the transgender community with the Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja as its chairman.
The minister had said that states like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have transgender development bodies but those are meant for welfare and not development.
Ranjita Sinha, who represents the community in the development board, has no qualms in admitting that nothing significant has been done by the government two years after the formation of the board.
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How can the government claim to work for us even when it doesn’t have any accurate figures regarding our population? Most of the people of the LGBT community are too ashamed to reveal their identity before those going for Census at their homes. They should have taken our help by taking us along with them which they didn’tRanjita Sinha, Member, Transgender Development Board
Discrimination against the community is more prevalent in rural than in urban areas. Even the meetings of the board were irregular that shows the lack of seriousness in the government about solving our issuesRanjita Sinha, Member, Transgender Development Board
Constraints for the Govt
Her anger is not without reason as there is no accurate data regarding the number of transgender individuals in West Bengal. The 2011 Census had pegged their number at 30,349 across the state. But those working with the community believe that over one lakh transgender people and hijras live in the state.
The allegations about the board not functioning properly were scoffed at by the state minister, Shashi Panja, who said that there was progress on this front.
We are doing our best to address their grievances. The priority is to build separate toilets for them as they face problems while using ladies and gents toilets in public places and are often turned away. All the issues would be sorted one by one. Funds are also a constraint for us. But the government is serious about them.Shashi Panja, Minister for Women and Child Development, West Bengal
(The writer is a Kolkata-based freelance journalist.)
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