[ad_1]
Ranjita Sinha, the face of the transgender community in Kolkata, has decided to approach the court because she is finding the West Bengal government being non-responsive to her demand for her father’s pension.
If her battle, which started in 2016, eventually leads to some decision, particularly a decision in her favour, it would have a far-reaching effect on the community. “I don’t see anything happening in my lifetime, the court is my only hope, it is the only hope for the community,” Ms. Sinha told The Hindu shortly after her meeting with the deputy secretary of home and hill affairs at the State Secretariat on Wednesday.
“I was once again told (at the meeting with the official) that my file has gone to another department, this time the finance department. I do not expect anything from this government, I now have no choice but to go to the court,” said Ms. Sinha, who is the director of the Association of Transgender/Hijra and has been on a number of panels related to the community.
Her father, a police inspector, died in 1982 while in service, and ever since then her mother had been receiving pension, until 2016, when the mother died. After the mother’s death, she wrote to the police department, requesting that the pension be directed to her. Under the law, a single, unemployed daughter is entitled to a parent’s pension.
Ms. Sinha has not got a response so far. Each time she sends a reminder, the police department forwards it to the home department, with a request that it should look into the matter because “the claimant is pressing hard”.
“It is not about the money but about my self-respect. Am I not the child of my parents? Am I not a citizen of this country? I am not begging for alms; I am seeking what is due to me. People say that members of the transgender community should not beg at traffic signals and instead look for work. But where is the work? Who is giving us work? Unless you give us our basic rights, you will find us begging at traffic signals,” she said.
[ad_2]
Source link
