48-year-old Mansi Jani still recalls the day she came to Mumbai in 2000–she fell in love with the city that did not treat her with the same level of disdain she encountered after identifying herself as a transgender in her Rajasthan hometown. After her parents disowned her, she joined her sister's export business as a creative designer.
However, following disputes with her sister's partner, Mansi moved to Mumbai, where she worked with the Humsafar Trust for a couple of years. She later joined various state government-affiliated bodies where she focused on HIV-focused communication and risk assessment programmes for focused groups, sharing this information with the administration to assist them in policymaking.
Realising she was getting bracketed in specific roles that were not to her liking, Mansi decided to strike out on her own. "I started Aarju Foundation because I wanted to leverage my strong communication skills and understanding of how the bureaucracy operates to assist other transgender people," she says.
However, not many from her community are as fortunate when it comes to finding dignified employment. The first-ever study on the rights of transgenders by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) showed that about 92% are deprived of the right to participate in any form of economic activity in India.
Even qualified ones, who comprise around 40% of this community, are refused jobs. Faced with this marignalisation, most are compelled to beg, dance at functions, or succumb to sex trade.
A Life In The Shadows
There are several reasons why trans people find it challenging to gain dignified employment in India, beginning with the social stigma attached to their very persona. While the 2011 Census pegs their total population at 4.8 lakh, sources say this number could well be over 55 lakh.
This is because most do not reveal their sexual identity fearing discrimination in their family, school, workplace and society at large.
"More than 99% of transgenders have suffered some form of social rejection, including from their family or the community they live in," states Archana Tomar, founder of Sutradhar, an NGO that works with trans people.
"Most run away from their homes at a young age because of this rejection, which means they do not finish their schooling and are illiterate or semi-literate. Hence, almost 98% are unable to find jobs in corporate companies and end up begging, go for badhai (congratulatory) functions or sex work."
Dr Manabi Bandyopadhyay is the first transwoman principal of West Bengal government-aided Dhola Mahavidyalay College. However, achieving this milestone was an uphill task, and the road hasn't gotten easier.
"Transgender people need proper qualifications to get dignified jobs just like any other individual. However, unlike other people, they achieve this position after much perseverance. Even after that, people in society play dirty politics to try and chase them away," she rues.
They are mocked, abused and often isolated at their workplace by their so-called regular co-workers and seniors.
This is a reality that 44-year Riya Sarkar, a teacher, encounters daily at a government-affiliated high school in Kanchrapara. Armed with a Master's degree in history and recognised as West Bengal's first transwoman secondary school teacher, she looked forward to gaining her rightful place in mainstream society.
However, during her 17-year career as an academician, she has faced contempt and rejection from her peers. "I am not allowed to get involved in any student activity, though my lesser-experienced colleagues get this opportunity," she laments.
Sarkar claims that the teacher in charge prevented the 34 teachers in the school from talking to her. "I was so mentally affected and depressed by this discrimination that I even contemplated suicide. Sometimes, I feel that rather than working hard at getting educated and trying to assimilate into society as a professional, I should join other transgenders who are into begging. At least, they are masters of their fate," she moans.
Where's The Paperwork
According to sources, while 4.8 lakh transgenders are included in the 2011 Census, less than 34,000 are registered with the Election Commission. This is because most of them do not have legal credentials like Aadhaar, PAN, ration card, or voter ID. In its absence, conducting official financial transactions is a massive challenge.
To aid trans people in opening bank accounts and avail of related financial services, in 2015, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directed banks to include a separate column 'third gender' in all their forms and applications. However, there is many a slip between the proverbial cup and the lip.
Rajni (name changed on request), a Mumbai-based trans woman who makes between Rs 800 to Rs 1200 a day begging at traffic signals, recounted how she escaped beatings from her family in Karnataka, appalled about her gender orientation and came to the city. She now stays with a guruma, the matriarch of a communal trans family, and shares a tenement with four others.
"I tried to open an account in a nationalised bank, but since I did not have any proof of identity like Aadhaar or PAN card, they did not help me. I even tried to do this with the help of a local NGO, but the bank officials kept asking for some form or the other. I can't afford to lose a day's earnings to run from pillar to post. Now, after giving a part of my earnings to guruma, I invest in gold ornaments and give them to her for safekeeping," she adds.
Her friend, 47-year-old Priya, shared a similar account. "I earn around Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 a day, send a money order to my family in Davanagare, and also offer money to local people for interest. I would have preferred to save my money in a bank account, transfer money directly to my family, and get some insurance policies. But, since I do not have any papers to prove my identity, this is the best I can do," she states.
A Never-Ending Tumult
Despite assurances from banking institutions after the RBI directive, it is difficult for most transgenders to open a bank account because of their semi-literacy, ignorance of processes or lack of documents. The introduction of the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) came as a blessing eight years ago for some, like the Aarju Foundation.
The NGO managed to open 130 bank accounts by using the scheme and is working on opening 32 more. "These are the ones who lack legal documents, so we have applied for PAN, Aadhaar and voter ID cards to speed up the process. Moreover, in addition to maintaining the minimum balance of Rs 3,000, almost all members are using their bank accounts for transactions and investing in savings instruments," Mansi proudly claims.
She declares that opening accounts in nationalised banks is more harrowing than in private banks. "Officials in the latter will show some leniency in paperwork, but representatives at nationalised banks are too rigid and unwelcoming. When they realise that the account holder is a trans person, they keep coming up with some reason or the other to delay the account opening process or even reject the application," she adds.
In 2018, Akkai Padmashali, a trans woman activist who was conferred the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award, started an online petition on Change.org after two banks refused to give her a home loan of Rs 10 lakh. She claimed that banks turned down her home loan application without assigning any logical reason, and this refusal usually came after they learned about her trans identity. In her petition, she asked banks, including ICICI, Axis, Yes and Saraswat, to expedite the loan process, especially since she had the financial wherewithal to pay it off as per the repayment schedule.
While this story is one that many a trans person has encountered, an HDFC Bank official reaffirms that the bank does not carry any bias against anyone on the basis of gender and that any individual can open an account, in accordance with the prescribed regulations. "The KYC documents for customers are obtained in line with the master direction on KYC/ AML circular, equally applicable to every customer of the bank," the official states.
What's In A Name?
Another reason trans people cannot get legal credentials essential to open a bank account or term deposit is their dead name. This is their birth name, but most of them choose a different name after transitioning to reflect their preferred gender. And, they often do not have the paperwork to prove their new identity.
As the principal of a government-aided college, Manabi, for instance, has valid citizen identity cards and even bought a flat with a bank loan from SBI Bank.
"However, even after my sex reassignment surgery in 2003-04, the then government recognised me as a male at my workplace. So, my salary account is in the name of Dr Somnath Bandopadhyay, my birth name, while my citizen identity cards show me Manabi Bandopadhyay!" she laments.
Due to this mismatch in names, she also lost her increment at the workplace and could not get her PhD certificate in her chosen name.
Because of these challenges, most trans people prefer to fall back on the unofficial parallel financial structure in their community. They either take loans from local money lenders or their guruma at astronomically high rates ranging from 20% to 40% or pawn their gold.
"When all else fails, in the case of an emergency, we take recourse in the sex trade to make a quick earning," Rajni quietly states. "If financial institutions would support us by giving us housing or personal loans, or even loans for self-employment, we could live our lives with pride," she adds.
To transform the lives of trans people, financial institutions need to do more than organise token events – they need to develop actionable policies to truly empower this marginalised community and help them gain their rightful space in society.
