Thoubal, March 27 : The two-day Training of Trainers (ToT) programme, which is being conducted as per the “Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 & Rules, 2020”, began on Friday at Kshetri Sanglen, adjacent to the Women Police Station, Thoubal. It is organised by New Life Sanglen, Garima Greh Shelter Home for Transgender (only for transmen), located at Wangjing Bazar, Thoubal Wangbal Mayai Leikai, under Rural Voluntary Services (RVS).
District Social Welfare Officer (DSWO), Thoubal, K. Nongpoknganba Salaicha, and Rural Voluntary Services (RVS) Secretary, Babita Sapam, attended the inaugural function as Chief Guests. In today’s training, divided into two sessions, HRLN Director Rakesh Meihoubam spoke on the topic “Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 & Rules, 2020 and their Constitutional Provisions”, and Jen Yengkhom, a member of Empowering Trans Ability (ETA), Manipur, spoke on the topic “Transgender Empowerment – Issues & Initiatives: Health, Education, Employment, Livelihood”. An open discussion was also held along with the presentations by the resource persons.
Speaking at the function, RVS Secretary Babita Sapam stated, “Our society has people of many kinds. Among them, the transgender community, which is a smaller group of people, is not adequately recognised by society. Therefore, for them to understand the ‘Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 & Rules, 2020’, which was enacted in 2019 and came into force in 2020, and to help them overcome the numerous challenges they face, this Training of Trainers programme has been organised.”
A total of 30 participants from various schools, colleges, police, and the transgender community in Manipur attended the training.
Tomorrow, the second and final day, scholars from Empowering Trans Ability (ETA), Manipur, and Dr. T. Deepamanjuri Devi, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Manipur University, Canchipur, will deliver lectures on the topics “Transgender Empowerment – Issues and Initiatives: Health, Education, Empowerment/Livelihood” and “Empowering Training to Challenge Misconceptions and Improve the Transgender Community’s Quality of Life” respectively.
