Speaker At ICGE Narrates Success Story Dairy Co-op By Transgender Team, Wins Heart

KOZHIKODE:
When some members of the transgender community in Tamil Nadu thought of leading a dignified life by rearing cows and selling milk, they were confronted by a conundrum: will there be someone to buy milk from them if they sell it independently?

“The idea of organizing a milk co-operative came as an answer to this question,” said transgender activist Grace Banu, who has the credit of organising the country’s first milk co-operative of transgender community and ensuring their successful foray into the dairy sector.

Banu, who hails from Thoothukudi district in Tamil Nadu, was sharing her experiences and concerns about her community on the sidelines of the ongoing International Conference on Gender Equality (ICGE) here at The Gender Park campus in Kozhikode, where sessions on various themes were held abiding by the COVID-19 safety protocol.

“In a conservative society, collective action and prolonged struggles are inevitable for transgender persons to gain equal status and opportunities,” said the activist, who has led several campaigns to assert rights of the marginalised. “What the transgender community aspires the most is to gain their right to lead a dignified life by engaging themselves in decent jobs. However, the mainstream society often denies them this basic right.”

Narrating her experiences about the milk cooperative at the second edition of ICGE organized by The Gender Park in partnership with UN Women, Banu said she first approached District Collector Sandeep Nandoori with her plans, and he wholeheartedly supported the initiative. Following this, 30 transgender persons from different parts of the district were enrolled as members for the co-operative. The authorities then allotted the land for the dairy farm and the stay of its members.

“As we went ahead with the milk production having 30 cows in our upkeep, we confronted our first hurdle. Local people were reluctant to buy milk from us. We then decided to supply the output to the state’s milk co-operative federation Avin. This stabilised our venture, and now we are planning to expand our dairy by buying more cows,” she added.

Inspired by the success of this milk cooperative, transgender collectives from different parts of the country are approaching it to explore if they could replicate the enterprise in their respective places.

“The crux of our story is that no one can stop transgender persons if they resolve to lead a dignified life by fruit of their labour. The support of the administration is also crucial in this,” she stressed.

Kalki Subrahmaniam, a prominent transgender rights activist and founder of Sahodari Foundation, said the initiatives to mainstream transgender persons are often limited to imparting them vocational training, without any follow-up support for them to start and nurture their enterprises.

“Training in digital marketing will help them find market for their products,” pointed out Subrahmaniam, who also hails from Tamil Nadu. “Since transgender persons live with a deep sense of loneliness, any initiative to mainstream them should be empathetic.”