Skip to main content

Extreme discrimination, harassment amidst pandemic: New transgender law failure?

By Adithi Das*
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused hardships among people, and even more so, for the most marginalised groups in the society. At a time when even the more privileged groups began scouring stores for food and medicines, one could realize the plight of the transgender community seeking rations and medicines only to face discrimination and harassment.
As always, shopkeepers sent them away saying the virus cannot get to them. Trans persons are often humiliated when they ask for basic health services in the country, and this has gotten worse during the lockdowns imposed to contain the spread of the virus.
As the country went under lockdown, the city-dwelling, college-educated, office-going workforces began switching to the virtual modes of working, and the country saw an unprecedented spike in the sale and use of remote working tools. But when one looks at the possibility of remote work for transsexual persons, one would be dismayed and appalled at the number of possibilities that really exist for the community.
Most trans-persons being engaged in begging and sex work have experienced extreme adversity and complete loss of livelihoods during the lockdown, says Pushpa Achanta of the Solidarity Foundation, an NGO that works with sex workers and sexual minorities in Bangalore.
Even worse outcomes of the lockdown have been when trans persons availing HRT drugs during transitioning and other minorities availing ART medicines for HIV treatment were denied access to these very essential commodities, notwithstanding the fact that the prices of these have skyrocketed since the early 2000s and become prohibitively high during the lockdown.
Perhaps, this is the result of lack of affirmative action in the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019. The Act has been continually criticised and challenged by activists and lawyers for the numerous discriminatory clauses it contains which are violative of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution such as: 
  • For transgender persons to change their gender, the Transgender Persons Act enforces the need for a Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) in order to change their gender identity to their preferred gender of either male or female. Moreover, the validity of the SRS is decided by the District Magistrate.
  • The Act places restriction on movement with regard to trans persons in separating from their parents and allowing a person to move out only through an order of ‘a competent court’. This has led to division of the community on class lines with only those being able to access the court even having a chance at separating from their family. With widespread discrimination and violence that they face from their immediate family and relatives, moving out of the family has been the need of a large number of trans persons. 
  • Section 18(d)- This section criminalizes violence against transgender persons, but has been reproduced without any changes from previous drafts. In fact, any kind of violence, as much as that which would endanger a trans person’s life is punished by a term of a maximum of 2 years. Sexual abuse rampant against trans persons is also included within the same section. This is in stark contrast to provisions in the IPC that subject rape offence against women to a maximum term of seven years. 
More appalling is the lacklustre state of affairs in terms of affirmative action to provide dignity and equality to the community. A press release by transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex rights activists protesting the passing of the bill in the Jantar Mantar, says, that the Transgender Persons Act 2019 denies reservations and affirmative action for trans, intersex and gender nonconforming people in employment, education, and healthcare.
The provisions of the Act around discrimination have no penalties, and have discriminatory penalties for sexual assault against transgender persons as against that of women. Thus, by not providing reservations and other forms of affirmative action, the Act has failed to create an equitable platform that transgender persons can start to rely upon to effectively improve the quality of their lives.
Provisions of the Act around discrimination have no penalties, and have discriminatory penalties for sexual assault against transgender persons as against that of women
Applying the same lack of affirmative action in representation and identification of trans persons in hospitals and health centres, we observe that it is often reflected in the absence of trans-specific wards. Gender binaries of male and female wards restrict trans persons from accessing healthcare on a daily basis. Trans rights advocates claim that many trans persons routinely die in hospitals due to delays in hospital admission procedures.
According to the UNDP India report, “Hijras/Transgender Women in India: HIV, Human Rights and Social Exclusion”:
“The estimated size of MSM (men who have sex with men) and male sex worker populations in India (latter presumably includes Hijras/TG communities) is 2,352,133 and 235,213, respectively. No reliable estimates are available for Hijras/TG women. HIV prevalence among MSM populations was 7.4% as against the overall adult HIV prevalence of 0.36%. Until recently, Hijras/transgender people were included under the category of MSM in HIV sentinel sero-surveillance. Recent studies among hijras/transgender (TG) women have indicated a very high HIV prevalence (17.5% to 41%) among them.”
The trans community is one of the poorest and most marginalized communities in the country, most of them having barely any access to healthcare. Also, they are one of the most under-nourished communities and their health levels are lower than average citizens, which makes them even more susceptible to the corona virus infection.
As Pushpa Achanta says, most of the community members are working-class people and thus, can’t afford the privilege of social distancing if they were to get back to work. To that end, Solidarity Foundation offers grants and scholarships to gender minorities and other minority groups so that they could get training to do some kind of remote work.
Such forms of simple affirmative action can create a world of difference towards ensuring alternate means of sustainable income for these people. It is important to realize that there are multiple minority identities in the country and gender minorities are often in the intersections of multiple identities, further aggravating the case of deprivation and marginalization.
What can thus be done to improve healthcare accessibility for trans community during the pandemic is to educate them about the health risks that they are currently exposed to, and work towards making relevant health advisory available in all languages.
Hospitals and health centres must have wards earmarked for trans persons, so that neither they are denied admission, nor does confusion arise for health workers. The key is to foster inclusion of this highly marginalized and deprived community in accessing health services that the government is freely giving away to citizens, and this can only be done when hospital administrators, local administration and elected representatives take affirmative action towards making healthcare “trans-friendly”. Also, policy interventions such as including trans persons in the Ayushman Bharat scheme are desperately needed in order to make inclusion a reality.
---
*Second-year MBA student at Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.
Post a Comment
»

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857  By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.
Post a Comment
»

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...
Post a Comment
»

Spirit of leadership vs bondage: Of empowered chairman of 100-acre social forestry coop

By Gagan Sethi*  This is about Khoda Sava, a young Dalit belonging to the Vankar sub-caste, who worked as a bonded labourer in a village near Vadgam in Banskantha district of North Gujarat. The year was 1982. Khoda had taken a loan of Rs 7,000 from the village sarpanch, a powerful landlord doing money-lending as his side business. Khoda, who had taken the loan for marriage, was landless. Normally, villagers would mortgage their land if they took loan from the sarpanch. But Khoda had no land. He had no option but to enter into a bondage agreement with the sarpanch in order to repay the loan. Working in bondage on the sarpanch’s field meant that he would be paid Rs 1,200 per annum, from which his loan amount with interest would be deducted. He was also obliged not to leave the sarpanch’s field and work as daily wager somewhere else. At the same time, Khoda was offered meal once a day, and his wife job as agricultural worker on a “priority basis”. That year, I was working as secretary...
Post a Comment
»

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.
1 comment
»

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...
Post a Comment
»

Proposed Modi yatra from Jharkhand an 'insult' of Adivasi hero Birsa Munda: JMM

Counterview Desk  The civil rights network, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JMM), which claims to have 30 grassroots groups under its wings, has decided to launch Save Democracy campaign to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra to be launched on November 15 from the village of legendary 19th century tribal independence leader Birsa Munda from Ulihatu (Khunti district).
Post a Comment
»

Fate of Yamuna floodplain still hangs in "balance" despite National Green Tribunal rap on Sri Sri event

By Ashok Shrimali* While the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reportedly pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for granting permission to hold spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival on the banks of Yamuna, the chief petitioners against the high-profile event Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan has declared, the “fate of the floodplain still hangs in balance.”
Post a Comment
»

Hyderabad Cong leader hospitalized after alleged AIMIM-linked mob attack; party demands justice

By A Representative   A group of Congress leaders and activists have written to the Hyderabad Commissioner of Police, urging immediate action over what they describe as a “mob lynching murderous attack” on party functionary Mohammed Hamed at the Congress Party office in New Kishan Nagar, Asifnagar, on July 21.
Post a Comment
»