Hiccups removed, transgenders to get skill training soon

JAIPUR: RAJASTHAN TRANSGENDER WELFARE BOARD AND RSLDC HAD DECIDED IN NOVEMBER LAST YEAR TO TAKE UP SKILL TRAINING FOR TRANSGENDER PEOPLE

Skill training for transgender people in Rajasthan will start soon to provide them with alternative means of livelihood, officials familiar with the initiative said.

Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity or expression is different from those typically associated with the sex assigned to them at birth.

On the initiative of the Rajasthan Transgender Welfare Board, the Rajasthan Skill and Livelihoods Development Corporation (RSLDC) had decided in November last year to take up skill training for such people. The programme got delayed because of problems ranging from funds to identity cards for transgenders.

“In January this year, I showed interest in setting up a centre to impart training to transgender people,” said Pushpa, a member of the Transgender Welfare Board who runs an NGO, Nai Bhor.

She found problems with the guidelines. “I found the investment high for setting up a training centre. The other problems were getting identification cards for the transgender community and meeting the criterion of 30% placement to the candidates imparted training,” Pushpa said

“If the community has so much money, then it would have started the skill centre on its own.” Pushpa demanded that either the government give loan for setting up the centre or provide infrastructure for 2-3 hours daily. “The state has around 22,000 transgender people, but only 350 of them have voter ID cards on which ‘transgender’ has been written in the sex column; the rest of them have ID cards with ‘female’ written on them,” Pushpa said.

The file to provide identification cards to transgender people is lying with the state government since 2016.

“Most of the transgender people have Aadhaar/voter IDs with ‘female’ written in the sex column. In such situation, it will be difficult to prove that candidates being trained are transgender people,” Pushpa said. “Employment to trained transgender people is a big problem due to low awareness in society about the community.”

RSLDC managing director Krishna Kunal said the issues would be sorted out and training for transgender people would start in a couple of months. “We intend to impart inclusive training to transgender people through training partners or transgender board, and the state government will extend all facilities.”

RSLDC plans to impart skill training to transgender people in cooking, making leather products and jewellery, and as beauticians.

Kunal said Style & Scissors, a beauty saloon in Jaipur and training partner of RSLDC, has trained 15 transgender people since 2016. “One of them has been retained at the saloon as a beauty therapist.”