Shelter, Food and Clothes, the basic necessities of a common citizen have been lacking in the lives of transgender voters of the State capital. They might have got power to prove their existence through a voter id card but establishment as an identity is still awaited.
“like men and women, we cannot enjoy Government facilities despite having the voting strength. Till date, we are totally dependent on the money given us during the celebrations of a child’s birth or marriage. Besides, Voter ID, we need ration card and Aadhaar card in order to avail all the essential Government benefits,” 45-year-old Kajal Kinnar told The Pioneer.
Kajal’s mentor Shobha Kinnar who had been casting vote over two decades stressed on the negligence of Government authorities since the time when Voter ID Card was declared a valid identity proof for them. “There are around 35 kinnars in our troop. We need atleast one bigha land where our next generation can settle independently,” Shobha pointed out.
Sources within the group mentioned that Chhattisgarh which was formed in 2000 like Jharkhand has allotted adequate to kinnars five years back. “It is only media which can help in fulfilling our needs from the Government’s side,” Kajal said.
Recalling the assurance of Chief Minister Hemant Soren when his son was born Shobha remembers the request for land made to the minister. “When Soren’s son was born we had asked him to grant us land. Hemant was holding some other post in the Government then. It seems we have to meet him again for our needs,” the elderly kinnar said.
According to Jharkhand chief electoral officer’s data, State capital records maximum enrolled transgenders in the voter’s list. “Among the 30 transgenders enrolled in the voter’s list, seven belong to Ranchi district. Bokaro, Dhanbad and East Singhbhum have three voters each. Jamtara, Deoghar and Hazaribagh have two voters separately. While, one such voter is enrolled in Dumka, Godda, Koderma, Chatra, Saraikela, West Singhbhum, Khunti and Garhwa districts,” an official of the CEO’s office said.
The official added, “In lok Sabha polls, there were 25 voters registered in the transgender category.” Notably, Ranchi Sadar sub-divisional officer (SDO) Amit Kumar had conducted a special voter awareness drive few days ago to encourage the participation of these people towards voting. Applauding latter’s response, Kumar said, “Our responsibility was to motivate them. They have voluntarily come forward and enrolled their names.”
Interestingly, after applying for voter card, initially a voter slip is provided. But district administration has something ‘different’ for transgenders. “As they are special cases, we will distribute their voter cards by the end of this month so that they can cast vote here on December 9. It will either be on November 29 or 30,” said a staff working at Collectorate.