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Kolkata pride calls for laws that respect human rights

Happenings, Dec '16
The 15th edition of the ‘Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk’ is planned for December 11, 2016 – exactly three years since the infamous Supreme Court of India verdict on Section 377, Indian Penal Code. Excerpts from a leaflet dev...

Small step, big victory!

Happenings, Dec '16
The West Bengal Administrative Tribunal directs WBPSC to include 'transgender' in its forms.
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Time for adult sex education?

Vartanama, Feb '17
So the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India has launched an adolescent health resource kit that includes information on sexual and reproductive health, mental health, violence, substance ...

Visual ode to redefining sporting abilities

Insight, Creations, Feb '17
Suchandra Ganguly on the story behind Verve – Where the Mind is without Fear, a table calendar for 2017 to express solidarity with para-athletes in Bengal
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New mental health law: Act of dignity?

Insight, Policy Matters, Apr '17
Pallav Bonerjee assesses India’s brand new mental health legislation, the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017.
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Government banks can’t write off trans inclusion!

Happenings, Mar '17
State Bank of India told to include ‘transgender’ option in its examination forms.
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Digital media, queer lives and ‘Indian-ness’

Happenings, May '17
Two books on the relationship between digital media and queer lives were launched recently in Kolkata. The event was part of the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia observations. Kaustav Manna report...

Voice of reason with Kolkata connect in UK polls

Insight, People, May '17 (long read)
Comparative literature studies to researching and teaching gender, sexuality and digital media; Kolkata to London; and now a step into the UK general elections arena on a Labour Pa...

Court battles for ground level transformation

Insight, People, Dec '16
A conversation with primary school teacher Atri Kar who recently succeeded in getting the West Bengal Public Service Commission (WBPSC) to include ‘transgender’ as a gender option in its application forms.
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Sex talk for people with psychosocial disabilities

Insight, Policy Matters, Jun '17
Shampa Sengupta, founder of Sruti Disability Rights Centre, argues that the sexual needs of persons with psychosocial disabilities must be addressed, and that there can be no one-size-fits-all approach to this cha...

On sex work – questions, answers, more questions

Insight, Policy Matters, Jul '17
Sex work or prostitution – what’s the difference? Decriminalization or legalization of sex work – same thing, right? Human trafficking and sex work (or prostitution) – is it at all possible to look at them...

‘Rakhi’ for a bus ride, when the law comes untied

Disability - Advice, Aug '17
Shampa Sengupta on the rakhi as a means of sensitizing public transport workers to the concerns of persons with disabilities in Kolkata
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Dazzled, and hopeful – the notion of privacy for all Indians

Insight, Aug '17
Vivek Divan on the commitment and flourish shown by the Honourable Supreme Court of India in rescuing the right to privacy from oblivion
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Inclusion of transgender community: Status of NALSA judgement implementation?

Commentary, Sep '17
Brindaalakshmi K. provides a low-down on where the much celebrated apex court verdict on transgender identities and rights has reached
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Universal design: Your life depends on it (part 1)

Insight, Sep '17 (long read)
Could there be anything more universal than ‘universal design’? Pawan Dhall chats with Mainak Ghosh, who is Associate Professor, Architecture with Jadavpur...

What price vigilance?

Vartanama, Sep '17
A new media acquaintance wondered what the focus of this issue’s editorial would be. He was sure I would write about journalist Gauri Lankesh's murder. Well, he wasn’t wrong.
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Universal design: Your life depends on it (part 2)

Insight, Oct '17
Concluding part of Pawan Dhall’s chat with Mainak Ghosh, Associate Professor, Architecture, Jadavpur University on how universal design relates not just to products and built spaces, but also to our emotions, bodies and the soc...

Voicing out stasis in transgender lives

Happenings, Nov '17
A trans* community hearing organized last week in Kolkata captured numerous grievances and complaints of government inaction across West Bengal. Pawan Dhall reports
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PIL in Calcutta High Court to push for transgender rights

Advice - Rights and Laws, Nov '17
Debayan N. Sen explains the purpose of a recent petition filed in the Calcutta High Court to address the livelihood concerns of transgender people
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Government letdown on transgender and intersex rights legislation

Policy Matters, Nov '17
In a stunning reversal, the Government of India has ignored all civil society inputs and plans to table a much criticized version of a Bill on transgender and intersex rights in Parliament. A response issued by Sampoorna I...

Act up call for hospitals on trans health rights

Insight, Policy Matters, Mar '17
Diksha Sanyal makes a strong case for judicial intervention to ensure health facilities honour apex court verdict on transgender rights
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Down, but not out!

Vartanama, Nov '17
Three of the articles in this issue of Varta talk about the continued hardships faced by transgender and intersex people in India. All jab us in the eye at how far we are, as a society, in respecting the same rights that our g...

‘Transgender Day of Rage’ to mark Kolkata pride

Happenings, Dec '17
The 16th edition of the ‘Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk’ is planned for December 10, 2017. The walk will be preceded by a protest against the discriminatory Transgender Person (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016, an issue that is...

Lens on AIDS 2016

Clickhappy! Aug '16
Pawan Dhall does a photo round-up of the ‘21st International AIDS Conference’ held at Durban, South Africa from July 18-22, 2016
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India’s abdication in UN queer vote

Insight, Aug '16
The 70th Independence Day could have had new meaning for queer people in India, but for India’s abstention on a recent UNHRC resolution to protect the rights of queer people. Avinaba Dutta explains
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Blogging for economic inclusion – by and for queer people

Insight, Jan '18
Pawan Dhall and Boicha Huidrom on Rainbow Manipur | Inclusive Manipur, an online documentation initiative to advocate for economic inclusion of gender and sexual minorities from grassroots to policy levels
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Queer inclusion: Business not as usual

Happenings, Oct '17
The business world in India has an opportunity to adopt a benchmark to prevent discrimination against queer people in the workplace and beyond. Pawan Dhall reports on the launch of a set of standards developed ...

Bill against instant triple ‘talaq’: Lose-lose proposition?

Policy Matters, Jan '18
Shampa Sengupta explains why criminalizing instant triple talaq will not protect Muslim women’s rights
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Disorder to dysphoria – humanizing the trans citizen?

Insight, Policy Matters, Oct '16
Debjyoti Ghosh on the World Health Organisation’s plans to delist transgender identity as a mental disorder
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Campaign for right to travel by railways

Happenings, Mar '18
A campaign organized by disability rights groups for the ‘right to travel by railways’ should be an eye-opener for all train travellers who don’t realize who’s getting left behind or just about making i...

Symposium on queering mental health

Insight, Happenings, Aug '18

Jia Mata was at Varta’s 5th birthday event focussed on queer perspectives on mental health

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Pushback against wrongs in Bill on transgender rights

Insight, Dec '17
The campaign against the regressive Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016 is not just an unprecedented mobilization of trans communities to resist the exclusionary nature of our legal system, but also a major step ...

When the Constitution came out in flaming rainbow colours!

Insight, Sep '18

Debjyoti Ghosh on Section 377 finally being read out of queer lives in India

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Will the Section 377 verdict live up to its full potential?

Insight, Nov '18

Brindaalakshmi K. on what the Section 377 verdict means to people assigned gender female at birth

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Discord on rules for Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016

Happenings, Policy Matters, Mar '17
Excerpts from a letter sent to the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment by the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled
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Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 is a reality!

Happenings, Dec '16
Persons with disabilities in India and organizations fighting to uphold their rights have gained a new legal recourse for equity and justice. Excerpts from a media release issued by All India Disability Alliance and National...

Disability rights milestone in India!

Happenings, Dec '16
A sustained campaign by several disability rights activists and organizations across India has forced the government to bring amendments to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014
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Community review of new disability rights law

Happenings, Jun '17
Ishan Chakraborty reports on a recent meeting held in Kolkata to analyse the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act which was passed in December last year.
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Cruel déjà vu on transgender rights legislation

Happenings, Dec '18

Anger erupts against Bill on transgender rights passed by Lok Sabha at Kolkata media conference

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Diversity Dialogues, Orinam raise bar for trans inclusion in workplaces

Insight, Happenings, Dec '18

Brindaalakshmi K. on the recent launch of a trans inclusion guide for Indian workplaces

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In rage, and in hope, we fight

Happenings, Dec '17
Delhi witnesses a collective voice of dissent against the central government’s Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016. Ajita Banerjie reports
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Conversations in disabilities, diversities in conversations

Clickhappy! Jan '19

Shampa Sengupta on a round-up of positive developments for disability rights in end 2018

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What if it’s neither?

Insight, Feb '19

Koyel Khan sums up the report of an historic meet on intersex issues in India

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CPI(M)’s disability outreach through print, sound and sign language sets a precedent

VCR Diary, Happenings, May '19

Rith Das reports (with inputs from Pawan Dhall) on CPI(M)’s recent disability rights meeting

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State stupor in trans inclusion

Vartanama, May '17
Sumana Pramanik is a young trans woman who lives in the Nadia district of West Bengal. Keen on a legal gender identity change, she approached a First Class Magistrate for an affidavit in September 2016. This aff...

Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019: Time for a legal challenge?

Insight, Aug '19

Diksha Sanyal examines the constitutionality of a Bill which the Centre is keen to enact

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Varta is registered as a charitable trust in Kolkata with the ADSR Sealdah, District South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, with number IV – 00322 of 2014, and with the Income Tax Department with number CIT (Exemption), Kolkata/12AA/2017-18/A/10033.
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