By Vivek Joseph

Hyderabad: Leaders of transgender and Hijra communities in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on July 15 met with officials of the Telangana government at an event held at the Montfort Social Institute.

The Montfort institute collaborated with the Human Rights Law Network and the Trans Equality Society to organize the event that aimed to create a platform for dialogue and interaction between the communities and the government.

Welcoming the participants Montfort institute director Brother Varghese Theckanath, said: ‘In our years of work among vulnerable communities in the city we have come to interact with the trans community and have understood them to be the most vulnerable of the vulnerable. While MSI has slowly started programs with the trans community, this meeting is a welcome space for learning for all of us in an effort to work together in the community’s journey of self-empowerment.”

The Brother also said the efforts of the institute and the Trans Equality Society emerged in response to the economic hardships faced by many in the community who have lost their traditional livelihoods in the wake of Covid-19.

The program had sessions on the culture and lived experiences of the Hijra community, the issues faced by trans men, alternative livelihood options for the communities and issues in healthcare.

The event raised issues faced by the communities. Nayaks, leaders of Hyderabad’s Hijra community, pleaded for greater sensitivity among government officials and police to the needs of their community members, particularly during interactions in public and government spaces.

Raagini Bakashji, a nayak of the Hijra community, said the meeting “is of great help to us, for we now have a chance to directly voice out our issues with the government.”

In attendance were D. Divya, the special secretary of the Women and Child Welfare Department, Sunitha Lakshma Reddy, chairperson of the Telangana State Commission for Women, and Anasuya of Cyberabad Commissionerate.

Reddy assured the gathering of ‘the development of more welfare programs that aim towards addressing the needs of the trans and Hijra communities.’

Divya said the government plans to promote entrepreneurship initiatives for the trans community.

The day highlighted the diversity of experiences and issues of the trans and hijra communities and their members and the necessity of recognizing and accepting their identities and lives by the rest of society.

“We will never deny that we are Hijra,” declared Rachana, ‘We’ll follow our culture and do other things also.”