It is said that educating a girl child is equivalent to empowering a nation. Every society that has provided equal standing and opportunities for its citizens has proven to flourish in every realm of its statehood. Ensuring that no girl child is deprived of their right to education, the Commissionerate police in Odisha have launched a novel programme known as 'Enlight 2.0'. Under this initiative, they aim to support the education of girl children from socially or financially backward communities. Providing leverage toward equal opportunities, the program would identify 200 girls from five slum areas in the first phase.

Equal Opportunities For All

The Odisha commissionerate police will launch a support education program for the girl children of rag pickers and those belonging to economically backward sections. The first phase would enrol 200 girls from five urban slum areas- Sikharchandi Nagar, Sikharchandi Nagar Muslim, Saibanaphula, Tarini, and Patra. Learning centres have been set up across each slum under the initiative. An appropriate education support will also be provided to the identified girl students from classes five to eight. The centres would have volunteers teaching a vast range of subjects, from mathematics, science, to English, every day for an hour in the morning and two in the evening.

They would also be facilitating provisions to counsel the parents to continue their children's education. Earlier data suggested that daughters of rag pickers studied in government schools but still faced constraints as they could not afford private tuition for their children. This was one among the multiple reasons why socially backward communities had to discontinue the education of their girl children. Addressing this professionally with the help of counsellors at school, they hope to lift the graph of girl students attending school once again. 

Learning Made Enjoyable

Police commissioner Saumyendra Kumar Priyadarsi stated that the students would get to enjoy the education programme thoroughly. Lessons are incorporated with informative and entertaining songs, dance, storytelling, games, and other activities. This way, the children would not have to worry about additional tuition to understand lessons and would also find learning an enjoyable experience. Migration and Thematic unit at Aide et Action South Asia's director Umi Daniel said that as a part of the project, 300 more girls would be identified within a couple of years, and necessary education support will be offered to them.

Sikharchandi Nagar Muslim Slum, Saibanaphula, Tarini Slum and Patra Slum in Bhubaneshwar to access and pursue quality education that would enable them to reach out for a better future and life. pic.twitter.com/MczC7d9o0A

— COMMISSIONERATE POLICE (@cpbbsrctc) March 2, 2023

The police would act as a bridge between the community support groups and organisers. According to a report by New Indian Express, they would be assisting the program leads in taking the learning and study materials to the girl students. The team is also looking into providing financial assistance to identified girl students who want to pursue higher studies like PG, MBBS, engineering, and other courses.

Also Read: Towards Inclusivity! Odisha Government To Set Up World-Class Laboratory For Visually Challenged

International Women's Day is celebrated every year on March 8th to appreciate and celebrate women and their works around the world. One community of people who continue to be disregarded or overshadowed from these celebrations are transwomen. Their contributions, efforts, and their existence as a whole have often been set aside from the mainstream despite lakhs of them making up our country's population. 

According to a study conducted by the National Human Rights Commission in 2018, 96 per cent of transgender people are denied jobs and are forced to take low-paying or undignified work for their livelihood. The community was also deprived of the right to participate in any form of economic activity in the country, with even qualified ones refused jobs. 

This women's day, The Logical Indian talks to Miss Sarita Shukla, who has dedicated her life and resources to uplifting the transgender community in Delhi. Working with the community since 2013, she has seen them grow past their struggles and hardships to earn an identity for themselves in a society that is largely ignorant of their capabilities. 

Project Astitva For Transgender Persons

28-year-old Sarita, a master's student in gender studies, started her career in social work back in 2010. She used to observe the work conducted around the community and realised a lot of efforts were focused on documenting them than working on the field with them. Sarita was among those who wanted to bring a change in this system and work for the community's welfare. 

Right from her initial years of social work, she worked with organisations for disadvantaged communities, such as female sex workers and migrant labourers, among others. Sarita joined the non-governmental organisation Pahal in 2013, and it was here that she got to interact with a transgender person for the first time. She cherishes that interaction to date and lovingly refers to her as "Didi" while speaking to The Logical Indian. 

Didi answered most of her curiosities surrounding the transgender community and conveyed how they remain ignored by the mainstream. It was the interaction with Didi that touched her deeply and made her want to do something for the upliftment of the community. Ever since then, Sarita has been working closely with them and started a dedicated Project Astitva with the Rotary Club of Global Action for transgender persons. 

Under this project, they have been trying to address two major aspects:

• What are the needs of transgender persons?
• Which all realms do they require help in?  

Finding solutions to these concerns, they have been providing transgender persons with employment opportunities, healthcare, vocational training, entrepreneurial mentorship, emergency support, counselling, and grooming advice, among other aids. Together they wanted to bring a change in the system that abused, scorned and neglected the community. 

Stories Of Hope & Inspiration

Today, the transgender community under the Astitva project is like her extended family. She says that everything she has been doing for their welfare does not seem like "work" anymore because these are things one would do for their family without a second thought. 

Talking about this family, she narrates the stories of a few members who benefitted from the project over the years. Sanjana didi, who was orphaned as a child, worked day and night sleeping on the roads in the chilling winters. Sandhya was neglected by her own family and had to do several odd jobs to survive on her own. This was at a time when nobody even sat beside her. Surviving the neglect by her family and society, she made it through the hardships. Sarita mentions Kanika as another one of her role models. She had left her house for her family's happiness as they did not accept her for who she is. 

All members of the Astitva family have gone through many such stories of pain and struggle, which can never be described in words. She tells The Logical Indian that it is from them that she had learned the real meaning of life. They smile through their hardships and hold on to their hope strongly. This has been a great source of inspiration for Sarita. 

Caring for these people who are surviving on hope has been Astitva's core idea, and they have been working toward helping society understand and respect them better. The project has empowered the transgender community by training them to gain respectable and sustainable livelihoods. They have supported many of their immediate needs, such as shelter and housing. 

During the pandemic, in particular, Sarita actively raised funds to buy food and supplies for the folks stuck in lockdown. She worked with the government to set up camps and cover expenses for trans people, including travel and food. She has also extended her efforts on policy levels and worked toward sensitising law enforcement to the community’s needs. Let this Women's Day be a reminder of the efforts of many people like Sarita toward recognising and appreciating the women neglected by society and their families.

Also Read: Karnataka Introduces Reservation For People From Transgender Community In Police Constable Recruitment

The Kartarpur Corridor has witnessed numerous heartwarming reunions of families that were separated during the India-Pakistan partition. The 1947 partition had left behind a sense of loss and longing among many families who ended up migrating across the borders. In a recent such reunion, families of two Sikh brothers were able to finally embrace each other after being separated for about 75 years. 

Singing songs and showering flowers on each other, the families of Gurdev Singh and Daya Singh finally got a glimpse of each other on March 2 after over seven decades of separation. The Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur Corridor, stood witness to yet one more beautiful family reunion and saw emotional scenes unfurling at the Darbar. 

Both brothers hailed from Haryana and used to live in a humble village known as Gomla. They lived in the village with their late father's friend, Karim Bakhsh, until the partition. After the partition, Baksh migrated to Pakistan with Gurdev, while the younger Daya remained in Haryana with his maternal uncle. In Pakistan, Baksh moved to the Jhang district of Punjab province, some 200 kms from Lahore, and gave Gurdev the Muslim name of Ghulam Muhammad. Unfortunately, Gurdev Singh passed away a few years back, but his family took forward his efforts to find his family back home in India. 

Search For Family Through Social Media

Muhammad Sharif, son of Gurdev, said that over the years, his father had written letters to the government of India requesting the whereabouts of Daya Singh. While these efforts didn't bear much fruit, the family managed to garner social media attention toward their search for their family back in India. According to an NDTV report, about six months back, they managed to find Daya Singh through social media and decided to reach out to him at the Kartarpur Sahib.

The four kilometre long Corridor that provides visa-free access to Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit the Darbar Sahib then became the site for one among the many heartwarming reunions across borders soon after the visit, Gurdev's family also urged the Indian government for a visa so that the family could visit their ancestral house in Haryana. 

They also expressed their gratitude for the social media impact that helped reunite the family. Back in 2022 as well, two brothers - Muhammad Siddique, 80, from Pakistan, and Habib, 78, from India, were reunited at the Corridor with the help of social media. Many organisations and social media pages have been working towards making these reunions come into reality and bringing together families that were separated for decades due to the partition.

Also Read: Heart-Warming! Siblings Separated During Indo-Pak Partition Reunited In Kartapur After 75 Years

For localites of Jammu and Kashmir's Gulmarg, the dogs may be just yet another stray moving around the high-altitude region. However, for the soldiers protecting the borders, these strays are their companions and their very own "early warning system."

Be it the harsh winters or summers, these canine companions are always found with the men patrolling the Line of Control (LoC). Following each batch diligently, the strays at the borders have played an interesting role in alerting our soldiers about untoward incidents at the LoC. 

Gulmarg's temperature can drop as low as minus 10° Celsius during the winters, and it becomes a challenging terrain to patrol with the harsh winds and snow that follow the temperature drops. The stray dogs keep the soldiers' company even in the harsh winters. Accompanying them in their patrolling shifts, they often alert the soldiers by barking out warnings when they sense dangers ahead. 

Companion For Soldiers

Familiar with the soldiers at the border, the strays cleverly detect other unusual movements or strangers lurking around. Many soldiers have conveyed how the strays "early warning system" has been very helpful to them. A report by NDTV quoted a soldier saying, "these dogs are with us today, tomorrow they will be with the next unit," that would be posted in the borders. They often follow the soldiers back to their camps as well and have become a part of their team in a way. 

The strays are cared for by the soldiers as a part of their extended families. In the snow-clad high-altitude areas, accessible only by foot, the soldiers survive on a ration. Even with the limited supplies of biscuits and water, the soldiers ensure the canines are well-fed along with them.

Major General Ajay Chandpuria, General Officer Commanding of the Army's 19 Infantry Division, conveys how such a bond between the soldiers and canines is not an unusual sight along the border lines. He noted that the strays are truly a man's best friend and that they have stayed by the soldier's side even when the situations were adverse.

Also Read: Shelters Out Of Scrap! Know How This Group Collectively Protects Stray Animals From Harsh Winters