Agniva Lahiri

Agniva Lahiri (22 August 1979 – 20 September 2016) was an Indian LGBTQ social activist from Kolkata, who was active in promoting the causes of the transgender members of the community. Lahiri founded People Like Us (PLUS) Kolkata, a Non Governmental Organization, in 2001 and served as its executive director.

Biography Agniva Lahiri was born on 22 August 1979, biologically a male, to a government servant and an economics school teacher, as the youngest of their three children, in Kolkata, India. Lahiri's early schooling was in Ramakrishna Mission Residential School and graduate studies at Asutosh College, Kolkata. Subsequently, Lahiri took master's degree in Bengali Literature from University of Calcutta and another master's degree in Sociology from Nagarjuna University, Kolkata and is pursuing higher studies at University of Melbourne. Lahiri also started a newsletter called Pratyay Arshi Nagar, with contributions even from the college faculty. The newsletter later grew to be a newspaper by name, Manashi. as a coordinator in the research on sexual culture and its relevance in the area of HIV intervention and prevention program. in 2002 on Child welfare, with Gender and AIDS Training Institute (GATI). which runs a destitute home in Kolkata called Prothoma, offering shelter for the victims of human trafficking and unsafe migration and standing up against the violence meted out to them. The activities have attracted public attention and UNAIDS (United Nations AIDS Program) released a small grant of 400,000 with which Lahiri organised a forum for transgender people by name, the Indian Network of Male Sex Workers. The forum now has 22 branches in 14 states of India.

People Like Us (PLUS) Kolkata Agniva Lahiri started the establishment of an organization for transgender people and gender variant men in 2000 and informally started the organization, People Like Us (PLUS) Kolkata in 2001. The organization was registered as an NGO in March 2003. The organization is working as a social forum for the rights of gender variant men and is involved in the HIV and AIDS related activities such as: prevention counselling, training and rehabilitation research intervention in issues like human trafficking