It was only as recent as 2014 that the Supreme Court of India legally recognized

the transgender community as the Third Gender . Prior to the verdict, transgender
people were treated as objects of ridicule, prejudice and humiliation who were n
ot only denied their basic human rights but also not recognized as citizens of I
ndia. They are also a community negatively stereotyped as eking out a living fro
m begging and commercial sex work.
However, with the increasing strength of queer politics, awareness about sexuali
ty, and the recognition of the LGBTQIA community by law, it would seem that peop
le have become more tolerant to the queer community as a whole.

Recently, the appointment of a transgender principal, Manabi Bandyopadhyay to a

government college in West Bengal and a transgender representative, Amruta Alpes
h Soni as the advocacy officer for the states of Punjab, Haryana and Chhattisgar
h for the National AIDS Control Project took the entire country by storm and was
regarded to be the first step towards busting stereotypes and including the tra
nsgender community into the mainstream.
In India, Tamil Nadu has been the only state which has successfully pioneered tr
ansgender inclusion by introducing the transgender (aravani, as they are locally
called) welfare policy. According to the policy, transgenders can access free M
ale-to-Female Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) in the Government Hospital, a free
housing program, various citizenship documents, admission in government colleges
with full scholarship for higher studies, and alternative sources of livelihood
through formation of self-help groups and initiating income-generation programm
es (IGP). It was also the first state to form a Transgender Welfare Board in 200
8 with representatives from the transgender community. In March 2009, Tamil Nadu
government set up a telephone helpline called Manasu for transgenders, an initiat
ive which was responsible for the formation of India s first helpline for the LGBT
QIA community in 2011 at Madurai.
In April this year, Tiruchi Siva, a member of parliament moved the popular bill
to ensure that the transgender commuity gets benefits similar to reserved commun
ities like SC/STs. The bill was supported by all political parties in Rajya Sabh
a (Upper House of the Indian Parliament), and will address enrolment in schools
and jobs in the government, besides protection from sexual harassment.
The Chhattisgarh government is also making efforts to empower the transgender co
mmunity by drafting an action plan for the welfare of around 3000 eunuchs in the
state. The welfare plan aims to include Sex Reassignment Surgery as per the cho
ice of the person concerned, along with development schemes to make them financi
ally independent.
Joining these efforts, is the Tripura government which announced in July an allo
wance of Rs 500 per month to the transgender people in the state to ensure their
financial independence.
The West Bengal government is not far behind. On October 1st, 2015 the governmen
t has requested the Kolkata Police to recruit transgenders in the Civic Police V
olunteer Force (CPVF) to end the stigma and discrimination against the community
.
While these development initiatives have made it possible for the disempowered a
nd previously ghettoised community to make their voices heard and to put forward t
heir demands, the overall development of the community has been marginal and app
ears to be only on the surface.
But have these events and the removal of legal stigma countered the social stigm
a that has plagued this community for decades?
There are numerous flaws with the inclusion principle applied to the transgender
community in India. Firstly, by providing recognition to a third gender in India
which is supposed to include all communities which do not fall into the cisnorma
tive structure, the Supreme Court has subsumed all sexualities under the rubric
of a single term. It is important to distinguish transgender from transvestites,
transsexuals from kotis and cross-dressers from hijras. Unless this demarcation
is firmly established, the blurring of lines will create a gender binary of tho
se who are gender conformists and those who are not.
Further, the nomenclature third gender is a problem in itself: it treats sexuality
as a ladder-like structure in which the lowest rung is occupied by the queer co
mmunity. Although it provides them with legal recognition, it does not alleviate
them of their abject conditions as they continue to be a part of the marginaliz
ed section of society and are not considered equal to the rest of the Indian pop
ulation.
While we may think that given the recent changes in the representation of trans
people in media, politics and education, India has finally been able to successf
ully adopt the inclusion principle which was for a long time hoped for but not a
cted upon, it is also important to bring to attention the various ways in which
it has been a failure. The appointment of a transgender principal to a governmen
t college or a transgender representative to politics in India can only be calle
d a part-time inclusion.
Being from a community that many are prejudiced against, these women (as they id
entify themselves) have proved to be exceptionally efficient in their respective
fields which made it possible for them to climb the professional ladder. But do
es this mean that the whole transgender community has been adequately represente
d? Do the changes in the professional level permeate their social and private sp
ace as well? Does this newly acquired status emancipate them and their whole com
munity from previously experienced ostracism? Do the development policies help m
itigate the violence and the stigma that the community faces in their everyday l
ives?
To answer these questions one will need to critically engage with the problems w
hich will only be successful if an in-depth study is conducted. Gender and sexua
lity are fluid concepts with multilayered aspects that need sensitive handling.
This nuanced approach must go beyond the Indian bureaucratic system and enter th
e social and cultural domains to ensure that the inclusion is not partial but su
ccessful. Unless the basic demands of the transgender community as a whole are m
et, unless the stigmatizing and alienating forces are checked and unless the wel
fare policies reach out to all the people belonging to the community in question
, inclusion cannot be achieved.