Bihar's first-ever transgender shelter home-cum-skill training centre has started functioning at Khagaul in western Patna with five inmates, as per TNN. Set up under the ¡®Garima Greh¡¯ scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the aim is to integrate transgender people into mainstream society.?
The three-storey building would provide infrastructural support to 25 transgender persons at one go and make them self-sufficient by empowering them with skill training programmes.
Dostana Safar, a social organisation working for the welfare of transgender, is running this shelter home, being monitored by the district administration. The centre has been named as ¡®Garima Griha¡¯.?
Reshma Prasad, the convener of the organisation, said 11 transgenders, including nine trans-women, have been identified and five of them have already shifted there. ¡°It is open for those transgender people who do not have any means of income and are abandoned by the family. We will make them self-reliant to earn their livelihood instead of begging,¡± she said on Sunday.??
The trainers are imparting skills such as make-up, dance and yoga. ¡°We will also introduce computer literacy programme, language courses and entrepreneurship skills. Besides, we will start coaching to prepare transgender people for the recruitment in police services under the proposed separate police battalion for them,¡± Prasad said and added: ¡°Some educational institutions, including Notre Dame Academy and Patna Women¡¯s College, have also extended help to train them.¡±
The inmates were delighted to find a place to learn something and become independent. An 18-year-old Naina (name changed) from Phulwarisharif, who is preparing for the government job, said the shelter home is a boon for the community. ¡°We start out day with yoga. After breakfast, we do online classes of different subjects. I also watch television in my free time,¡± she said.?
Kusum (name changed), 24, from Muzaffarpur said she wants to join the police service. ¡°The shelter home is the best platform for me to achieve my dream. I had to leave my home because of social stigma. Now, I want to make my family proud of me,¡± she said.?