India's First Trans Tea Stall At Guwahati Station, Silver Lining For The Community

Ministry of Railways recently took to their Twitter handle and shared a glimpse of India’s first trans tea stall at Guwahati station. The tea shop has been introduced to boost employment for the trans community.

trans community tea stall guwahati station indian railways

Members of the trans community struggle to find employment opportunities to date. For people from this section of society, every day is a new challenge, to say the least. Lack of social support and a non-inclusive environment only adds to it. However, there are initiatives every now and then to boost inclusivity for the trans groups.

Recently, the Ministry of Railways introduced the first-ever trans tea stall at Guwahati station and looks like the community finally has some ray of hope.

The Ministry of Railways announced the initiative on their Twitter handle with a video of India's first trans tea stall operated by people from the trans community. The caption mentioned that the unique initiative of Indian Railways was for the inclusive growth and empowerment of transgenders. This comes under PM Modi's committed ideals of Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikas.

North East Railway Frontier also took to their official Twitter handle and shared some pictures of the tea shop with the caption, “For the very first time in Indian Railways, a Tea Stall has been opened at Guwahati Rly Stn Platform 1 which will be managed only by transgenders. A testament to the clarion call of 'Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas', this stall will be a pillar for empowerment of the transgender community.”(sic)

Trans Tea Stall - The Proposal

trans tea stall guwahati

Reportedly, the idea of India's first trans tea stall was proposed by the Trans Association of North East India. The tea shop was inaugurated by Anshul Gupta, General Manager, North East Frontier Railway. The idea was to encourage the employment of trans and queer communities.

If you see the pictures and videos of the tea shop, it is beautifully decorated in the colour of pink. Snacking items for passengers, right from tea, coffee, cold drinks, juices, wafers and biscuits are available at the tea shop.

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Netizens Laud Ministry Of Railways' Initiative

As soon as pictures and videos of the trans tea stall in Guwahati were posted online, netizens flooded them with comments. A lot of them praised the railways for generating employment opportunities for people from the trans community. Many even called it a historic establishment and felt that it was a significant milestone in terms of the trans community's fight for equality in the country. Some social media users also shared that they look forward to seeing more such stalls run by people from the trans community across the country.

Celebrated businessman and chairperson, Mahindra Group, Mr. Anand Mahindra appreciated the initiative with a Tweet. He wrote, "👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 This one small, initiative is, in my view, as significant & transformational as your many other progressive projects. Indian railways carries over 8 billion people. And most important, excludes no one. Bravo @AshwiniVaishnaw."

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However, some Twitteratis also called out the name of the tea stall and stated that it wasn't a good idea to call it by that name because it kills the idea of inclusivity.

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