I am Raja Dutta, I am an Odissi dancer and a transgender activist from Coochbehar, North Bengal. In the past month, I have seen unprecedented suffering and loss of livelihood within our community of trans sex workers in Coochbehar and Alipurduar. Many of us are now forced to dig into our meagre savings to feed ourselves and our dependents. We fear that these savings won’t see us through this crisis brought on by the pandemic.  Even when the crisis is over, it will take us months to find a stable footing again.

We need your support urgently to make sure we all have access to basic resources such as daily ration. The money that you contribute will be directly used to fund ration kits for our community. Each kit costs around Rs 1500 and has provisions for a month. This includes 18 kg rice, 1 kg lentils, 1ltr oil, 4 pkts turmeric, 5 kg potatoes, 1 pkt salt and a 150 ml bottle of sanitiser.

In this time of acute crisis, your urgent support will be very crucial for our community of trans sex workers in  North Bengal. Your humble contribution can help us put together the fund we need to access the minimum essentials for leading a life of dignity in these difficult times.  We acknowledge the financial distress the pandemic has brought into your own lives. We thank you for sharing your valuable resources despite these difficult times.