Historicity of transgenders in India and the progressive Aravani community of Tamil Nadu

The article highlights the historicity of transgender discrimination, alienation, activism, welfare, and development in India. How the third-gender has wriggled its way through the antiquities that were pre-Independence laws against the deemed-unnatural sex and made its own space in the society is at the same time both inspirational and eye-opening. Their ostracisation and harassment over the years resulted in them collectivising and forming regional communities as a mark of solidarity, with Aravanis of Tamil Nadu being one such glowing exemplar. Aravani community across space and time has been highly successful in bringing some vital reforms and welfare schemes by exerting constant pressure on the state authorities and policy makers. This article also focuses on their modus operandi and how they could serve as a template for transgender communities across the country. It also emphasises on some of the bold steps taken by the Tamil Nadu government for the emancipation of transgenders in the state and how the model could be replicated and held sustainably across other states.

One common unmissable sight in India, either out of a car window at a busy intersection or at fancy weddings and birth ceremonies, either in a crowded Mumbai local train compartment or at large temple gatherings, is that of India’s omnipresent minority of transgenders, studded with cheap artificial jewellery, draped in bright sparkling sarees, and marking their audacious presence with bawdy songs and dance with a frequent habitual clapping of hands. India, with its rich mythological and historical past, unsurprisingly surpasses the age-old Western normative societies that define the culture of the West. That becomes evident in a microcosmic sense for transgenders in India as well, who have formed distinctive communities and have come together in different parts of the country to strive for a better life.

The stories of their origins stem out of mythological anecdotes and legends, as epics like Mahabharata and Kama Sutra make ready references to eunuchs and powerful Gods changing genders in a blink of an eye. Mythologically, ‘hijras’ are believed to have existed for more than four thousand years now. Their identity as the ‘third-gender’ seems to come from an episode of Ramayana where Rama is banished. In the story, Rama tells a tearful group of men and women, lamenting his banishment, to leave and return to the city. A group of people “who were not men and not women” did not know what to do and remained with him. Rama rewarded the hijras for their loyalty by giving them the power to bless auspicious occasions such as marriage and childbirth through customary singing and dancing.1 In another popular legend, the transgender character of Shikhandi is central to the story of Mahabharata and death of Bhishma Pitamaha. Episodes such as Vishnu transforming himself into Mohini to kill the demon Bhasmasura or for distribution of the nectar of immortality during the ocean churning are firmly representational of the gender fluidity that prevailed even in the ancient times. Kama Sutra vividly describes the sexual life of people with ‘third nature’ or ‘Tritiya Prakriti’. India is home to many old transgender-related identities such as Aravanis, Shiv-Shaktis, Jogappas, and several such derivatives which are subsumed in broader cultures. However, in biological terms, irregular male sex organs are focal to the definition of the community. The hijras include both ceremonially emasculated males and intersexed people whose genitals are “ambiguously male-like at birth.” All hijras have a female gender identity. There are no ambiguous females who identify as males in the group. Instead, all hijras dress and act as women even though they are not biological women.1

Despite age-old evidence of their existence, the transgenders in India today are still living with alienation, ostracization, discrimination, and oppression.4 Recall your most embarrassing moment, maybe when a teacher drove you out of class and you could not handle the judgemental gaze of the entire class, or when someone bullied or ragged you in college and the more you looked around and yearned for help, every passer-by just looked at you and did nothing but pity. In that moment, a person with a definite individuality would feel nothing but belittled, ashamed, and vehemently humiliated. It should not come as a surprise that the transgender community lives and exists with this amount of humiliation inscribed in every nanosecond of their lives. The social exclusion faced by this disenfranchised and unprivileged group is extremely broad-based and deep-rooted. It begins with their families which deny their transgender children the right to inheritance and familial dignity. Some sections of society often ridicule these gender-variant people and end up abusing them physically and verbally and forcing them for sex. Even the police more often than not are found dishing out inhumane treatment towards transgenders on pretext of ill-perceived notions. The transgenders face extortion of money and arrests on false charges from police. In Jayalakshmi v. State of Tamil Nadu, Pandian, a transgender, was arrested by the police on charges of theft. He was sexually abused in the police station which ultimately led him to immolate himself in the premises of the police station.2 Similarly, policemen arrested Narayana, a transgender, in Bangalore on suspicion of theft without informing him of the grounds of arrest or extending any opportunity to him to defend himself. His diary was confiscated by the police and he was threatened with dire consequences if he did not assist in identifying other transgenders he was acquainted with.1 They have negligible access to health services, in particular sexual, due to lower socioeconomic stratum and low levels of awareness. The rates of HIV/AIDS and other STIs are thus quite high, but only found due attention in National AIDS Control Programme (NACP-III)3 which was formulated in as late as 2007 and finally included MSMs (Men who have Sex with Men) and transgenders. They also suffer from mental health complications due to trauma and stress associated with societal stigma being constantly meted out to them. Depression, suicidal tendencies, and abuse-related duress without any access to mental health centres, coupled with barely any mention of mental well-being in ongoing HIV programmes, catalyse and compound certain situations beyond repair every now and then.

The primitive and concerning state of transgender affairs can be largely attributed to some of the Draconian British laws in the pre-independence era, which terrorised the transgenders for a long time before getting replaced by some of the recent versions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill. During the entire second half of the 20th century, Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956 (amended in 1986) and Section 377 of the IPC 1860 were extensively employed to exploit and harass the transgender community. These negligent laws were overshadowed by the advent of several regressive amendments made to the Rights to Transgender Persons Bill, 2014 introduced in the Rajya Sabha by Tiruchi Siva of DMK Party. The bill, although passed in the Upper House, was pending in the Lok Sabha since 2015. It was largely in alignment with the Supreme Court judgement in NALSA v. UOI 2014 which focused on the right of transgender persons to self-perceived gender identity without undergoing sex reassignment surgery, and mandatory reservations in jobs and educational institutions. This bill was pocketed and instead came the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016 which was a harrowing devolution on the 2014 bill with ginormous loopholes and was met with severe criticism and outcries pan-India. Subsequently, the Lok Sabha tabled and passed a 2018 version with 27 amendments, which again met with harsh backlash as it failed to meet the suggestions made by concerned Standing committees and transgender experts. However, the 2018 bill lapsed. In August 2019, the bill was reintroduced by the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot and passed again with minor or no changes in the Lok Sabha, and as it stood, the bill was passed in Rajya Sabha too on 26th of November 2019. This is a huge departure from the proposed development and protection of ‘rights’ of the community and stands as a colossal failure of the democratic machinery because of its inability to account for the feedback and demands of the grossly affected stratum of the population.

In this gloomy and oblivious background, Aravanis of Tamil Nadu have symbolically secured a David versus Goliath victory against all the odds. Their relentlessness and persistence over the years has led to a huge upliftment in their status, welfare, and recognition in the society. Aravanis derive their name from the son of Arjun, Lord Aravan, who selflessly had agreed to sacrifice his life under a prophesied ritual to help the Pandavas win the Mahabharata War. In order to fulfil his last wish to get married, Lord Krishna took the form of a woman, consummated his marriage with Aravan and attained widowhood the next day after Aravan was sacrificed. Aravanis consider themselves the descendants of Lord Krishna and hence every year, they assemble at Koovagam, a village in the Ulundurpettai taluk in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu and the site of Koothavandar Temple dedicated to Aravan, for a fifteen-day festival in the month of Chitrai (April/May). During this festival, they re-enact the mythological marriage and the next day mourn the death of their ‘husband’ through ritualistic dances and breaking of bangles. The festival is marked by marquee events such as beauty pageants and singing competitions. Seminars to discuss transgender and transvestite rights and healthcare are also organised. The festival witnesses a footfall of over 1 lakh people from all over the country and is a landmark annual event for transgenders in the country.

Aravanis borrowed from their active cultural heritage and richness and utilised it to secure social, political, and economic advancements. They were thoroughly heard and ably supported by the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi, whom till date the Aravanis consider as the pioneer of their movement. This recorded a giant leap in the history of transgender rights in India and the state of Tamil Nadu became the first ever state to constitute an Aravani Welfare Board, meant specifically to look after the grievances and welfare of the Aravani community. The constitution of the Welfare Board in 2008 was excellently ideated and seen through by a remarkable group of Aravani activists, who through legal and advocacy measures, made sure that the Board had able representation in the form of ten Aravani members. In addition to this, the TN government also announced the creation of a special transgender-based database to monitor their population, demands, and maintain their records on a nationalised register in 2009. Before the Welfare Board, the transgender community was devoid of rights to vote, own property, marry, education, claim a formal identity such as a passport or ration card or driver’s license, employment provisions, and healthcare services as all of these rights were based on the State policy of recognising only two sexes. The Aravani Welfare Board has been able to achieve some fabulous results in this regard. Formalised through a memorandum furnished by the Board, the Tamil Nadu state government has implemented some serious welfare schemes. Some of the radical provisions include free Sex Reassignment Surgery in the government hospitals8, admission in government colleges with full scholarship, free housing scheme (Right to property), and formation of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to develop the habit of savings and promote Income Generation Programmes (IGPs) through SHGs. Transgenders in Tamil Nadu have Right to vote (either as male or female), get a ration (family) card, and Right to apply for a passport. The state has also issued transgender IDs and health insurance cards. Tamil Nadu state has also conducted the first district wise state level transgender population count in 2009. It is worth noting that none of these schemes had been implemented by any other state in India by that time. It was only a few years later that some of such schemes started coming up in different states around 2012.5 A few other steps taken by the TN government included (1) Rs. 100 crores sanctioned by the Government for group houses for 182 transgenders in 10 districts under Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), (2) providing an education assistance of Rs. 15,300 to transgender persons, (3) a proposal to make a documentary film on transgenders incurring an amount of Rs. 1,05,000 approved by the Government, (4) Rs. 13,380 sanctioned for starting a tailoring training by an NGO for transgenders in Chennai, and (5) Rs. 2.25 lakhs distributed to the District Social Welfare Officer, Chennai for starting vocational courses such as beauticians, jewellery making, and tailoring for transgenders, among several other approved proposals.

Thus, Tamil Nadu Transgender Welfare Board (TGWB), as it is formally known, has addressed a galore of social protection needs of Aravanis since its inception. This has in turn provided a much-needed template for a replicable model to be implemented across India. But the states and the Centre so far have been highly unsuccessful in bringing about a major revamp in the policies with which transgender communities and their issues are handled. TGWB itself faces a lot of challenges. As there was no election procedure defined for the TGWB Aravani representatives during the constitution of the first-ever board by nomination on the basis of expertise and experience, it has led to questions being raised about the lack of zonal/regional representatives of the transgender persons. A commonly agreed definition of Aravanis is another bone of contention, as there are doubts about all the people who are eligible for benefits. Another huge issue is that TGWB, however relevant it may be, still merely functions as a facilitator for the governmental policies. This is because it is not an autonomous body and suffers from a serious lack of funds itself. Hence, they have to largely rely on the government acting upon their recommendations, which may or may not materialise. Despite establishing some good linkages with several departments such as Finance, Law, Women Commission, Police etc., there still remain some gaping voids in linkages with departments such as Slum Clearance which could help with the housing facilities. Yet, all of these issues do not take away the sheen off the stupendous efforts made by TGWB and the Tamil Nadu State Government towards the empowerment of transgender community.

It is not like other state governments have turned a blind eye towards their transgender citizens. Very recently in November 2019, the Kerala state government has approved Rs. 23.34 lakhs to fund a 20-year old transgender Adam Harry to pursue a three-year course at the Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology in Thiruvananthapuram, thereby helping him become the first transgender commercial pilot in India.6 75,000 transgenders in the state of Rajasthan received multi-purpose identity cards by the Transgender Welfare Board in order to avail benefits from government schemes in July 2018.7 The states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh have already constituted or are in the process of constituting respective Transgender Welfare Boards.

Several suggestions can be thought of for formulating pro-transgender policies both at state and Central levels. Stringent civil rights legislation should be put in place for transgenders to guarantee them the same set of rights enjoyed by cisgender population on the basis of caste, colour, sex, and creed. Section 375 of the IPC should be amended to extend the jurisdiction for all kinds of sexual violence, including against transgenders and children. Civil rights under law such as the right to get a passport, ration card, make a will, inherit property and adopt children must be available to all regardless of change in gender / sex identities.1 Police should be sensitised through workshops by human rights/queer activists to make them more compassionate towards the transgenders. Special provisions should be in place to ensure safety for transgenders in prison cells, preventing rape and sexual harassments. Hijras should be kept in separate or women cells to not allow their harassment by other male inmates. Macro-socially, a comprehensive sex education program should be included in primary school curricula so that a heterosexist bias does not prevail among youth of the country right from the beginning. Medical Council of India should lay down guidelines for the treatment of transgenders without any bias towards their gender identity, and should constitute strict punishments for any unprofessional conduct or refusal to treat the patient.

Concluding, both the State and non-State actors should come together along with the citizens of the nation, very much like Tamil Nadu, to ensure that stigmas like heteropatriarchy and sexism are not allowed to become dogmas of the State. A positively critical approach should be adopted by the able Oppositions and support groups to gauge the practicalities and risk associated with all governmental schemes and laws pertaining to transgenders, so that they are included as a more equitable part of the society and are accepted as all of our own, rather than a few of them.

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