Muskan Tanti (30), a third gender person living in Islampur area in Assam’s capital city Guwahati, has been struggling for past several years to find a dignified livelihood option for survival. However, Muskan has no option but to survive on begging as the stigmatised identity of a third gender person comes in the way of finding an alternative livelihood.

Begging, too is not an easy option, says Muskan. Like many other third gender persons in the city, Muskan too has specific demarcated area for begging. The area has remained limited with more and more people belonging to third gender community coming out for begging each day. The area for Muskan’s group is confined between Paltan Bazar Bus Station and Ulubari bus station area and in Paltan Bazar railway station. A group of third-gender persons gather early in the morning for collective begging. Each of them earns between Rs.200-300 a day.

In addition to meeting own need, Muskan has a large family to take care of, back home in Sivasagar. Born to tea-garden worker parents in Athkher Tea Estate in Sivasagar district, Muskan has four sisters and two brothers to be looked after. Muskan visits home occasionally at certain intervals to meet family members.

One of the most marginalised communities, there is no end to the plight of transgenders in Assam despite the guidelines and directions of Supreme Court and interventions of Gauhati High Court to ensure their livelihood, healthcare and issues of social security. The Supreme Court in a 72 pages guideline in 2014 directed all the states to protect and support all third gender communities. (Excerpts of the SC directive given at the end of this report)

When third gender persons like Muskan have remained deprived from their rights, an amount of Rs Two Crore allocated to the Social Welfare Department by the Assam Government at the directive of the Surpeme Court for undertaking welfare measures for the community allegedly lapsed as the department failed to utilise the amount.

A victim of constant stigma and discrimination by neighbours, friends and teachers at school and in neighbourhood, because of the identity of third gender, Muskan had to leave school early many years back. Since then, it has been a long journey for Muskan to come to Guwahati, find a Guru for livelihood and support to start a new life.

Transgender persons share a typical Guru – Sela (master and disciple) tradition, in which they survive as a community and fight with the odds of life together. The Guru is supposed to support and protect all the Selas. They live together in rented houses of the city.

“Life, however, was not easy for me here too, even after finding my Guru. I approached many organisations for a job. However, people do not want to keep us even as domestic help, and often consider us as dangerous persons. This has made most of us to take begging as profession” Muskan says.

Some people not only refuse to give them something they also use derogatory words when they enter a public bus or a train for begging. The third gender persons, however, maintain decency and keep quiet, Muskan adds.

Muskan is one of around 9,000 thirdgenders in the state, registered under the All Assam Trans-gender’s Association, the umbrella organisation of third genders in the state. The Association is founded by Swati Bidhan Baruah, the first transgender judge of National Lok Adalat in Assam, who has been fighting for the cause of transgender community in the state.

Swati Bidhan Baruah says that despite the legal protection, transgender persons still face lot of stigma and discrimination due to stereotyping of identity.

“We organised a Transgender Pride in Guwahati in 2016 to highlight the issues of trans-gender persons. Around 7,500 transgenders from all part of the state participated in that. That was for the first time that trans-genders in such a huge number gathered for a cause” Swati Bidhan Baruah says. Apart from fighting for livelihood and protection, Swati Bidhan Baruah also looks after the legal issues of transgender persons.

“Despite the Supreme Court guidelines and directives, nothing was implemented in our state. Then I decided to file PIL in Gauhati High Court in 2017. The Gauhati High Court flayed the state and ordered the Department of Social Welfare to take initiatives for implementations of the Supreme Court guidelines and directions. Accordingly, the department of Social welfare formed a Core Committee for implementation of the Supreme Court guidelines, of which I am also a member of the Committee,” Swati Bidhan Baruah adds.

Assam government formulated a Draft Transgender policy and the Department of finance allocated Rs. 2 Crore. However, the money returned as the department is yet to come up with a full-fledged Transgender Policy, alleges Swati Bidhan Baruah, stating that such indifferece only indicate the apathy of the state government to uphold critical issues of transgender community, that cover 40 categories under its umbrella.

The Draft State Policy on Transgenders, formulated by Assam government states, quoting Census of India web portal, that the state has 11,374 transgenders including 1,348 children (of 0 to 6 years). Altogether, 1223 of them belong to Scheduled Tribe category and 774 to the Scheduled Caste category. The literacy rate among the transgenders in Assam is 53.69 per cent.

Apart from social exclusion and stigma, addressing rehabilitation and livelihood issues of transgenders are important, so that members of this marginalised community can lead a dignified life.

The draft policy talks about the state government taking care of housing and needs, education of transgender children, scholarships to transgender students to pursue middle, secondary and higher education, technical education, ending exclusion of transgender persons from public health services and about their employment, livelihood and sustenance. But all these have remained on paper.

Highlighting realities at ground on some crucial issues, Muskan Tanti says they find it difficult to get admitted into hospitals during serious health issues as the hospitals do not have the separate provision for transgender persons. Using public toilets is another issue of concern, as most of them must be on the streets for survival for 8-10 hours a day.

Exceprts of the Supreme Court Directive :

• Hijras, Eunuchs, apart from binary gender, be treated as "third gender" for the purpose of safeguarding their rights under Part III of our Constitution and the laws made by the Parliament and the State Legislature.
• Transgender persons’ right to decide their self-identified, gender is also upheld and the Centre and State, Governments are directed to grant legal recognition of, their gender identity such as male, female or as third gender.
• We direct the Centre and the State Governments to take steps to treat them as socially and educationally backward classes of citizens and extend all kinds of reservation in cases of admission in educational institutions and for public appointments.
• Centre and State Governments are directed to operate separate HIV Sero-survellance Centres since Hijras/ Transgenders face several sexual health issues.
• Centre and State Governments should seriously address the problems being faced by Hijras/Transgenders such as fear, shame, gender dysphoria, social pressure, depression, suicidal tendencies, social stigma, etc. and any insistence for SRS for declaring one’s gender is immoral and illegal.
• Centre and State Governments should take proper measures to provide medical care to TGs in the hospitals and provide them separate public toilets, and other facilities.
• Centre and State Governments should also take steps for framing various social welfare schemes for their betterment.
• Centre and State Governments should take steps to create public awareness so that TGs will feel that they are also part and parcel of the social life and be not treated as untouchables.
• Centre and the State Governments should also take measures to regain their respect and place in the society which once they enjoyed in our cultural and social life.

Anindita Rani Hazarika and Silpimoni Das

( Anindita Rani Hazarika and Silpimoni Das are students of M.A. ( 3rd Semester) at the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Tezpur University They have produced this story as part of their Summer Internship at NEZINE )