New Delhi: Even as Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha on Tuesday kicked off the Mission Sahara initiative — to help the transgender community in his constituency, Rajinder Nagar, by distributing ration kits to 100 people from the community; the larger trans community in the Capital which numbers around at least 4 to 5 lakh by conservative estimates, has been in dire need of and have been demanding institutional government support in understanding their struggles and helping them with it — most importantly with government identification, education, skills development and employment.
Significantly, Chadha's office was approached by the District Magistrate of the area along with Community Empowerment Trust, an NGO, that works for transgender rights across the Capital, only after which did the initiative from the Rajinder Nagar MLA begin, a statement from the party said.
While Deepchander, Chairperson of the NGO CET, told Millennium Post that they have been depending on good samaritans and charities from government and non-government organisations throughout the pandemic, what the transgender community in Delhi needs is institutional government support that can uplift and help people in the ways they need.
"When the lockdown came, we knew things were going to be bad but the scale really hit us when people from the community started reaching out to us. First, they needed jobs so we did the best we could but getting one or two people minimum wage jobs was not enough. Then people started coming to us asking for food," Deep said.
He continued that throughout the pandemic, there has been absolutely no institutional support from any government be it at the municipal level, state level or the Central level. However, he added that some government agencies and ministries have on an ad-hoc basis helped the NGO.
Deep told this newspaper that their NGO does not have funds and has been partnering with people despite that to deliver rations to as many as 5,000 people in the community in various areas of the city such as Adarsh Nagar, Jahangirpuri, Wazirabad, Patel Nagar, Burari, Azadpur and others.
No help with ration or basic supplies was given by any government agencies to the nearly 5 lakh transgender people in the city, he added.
"Some people, like in Jahangirpuri, where over 2,000 trans people live, we could give ration up to three times, but due to the limited resources we have we have been able to reach nowhere close to the actual number of people who need help," the chairperson of the NGO said.
Students from colleges like Ramjas College, some news channels and many other organisations have helped the NGO but their needs remain. Deep said the trans community needs things like a Skills Development Centre with placement opportunities and a comprehensive survey that can document in detail the kind of daily problems the community faces so that they can be addressed.
When asked about ration support for the community from the government, Deep said that the government should have made sure to account for the trans community while formulating ration schemes for those who need it during the lockdowns.
But even for availing ration through government schemes, the biggest hurdle is documentation. Deep, who works with the Election Commission to get Voter IDs for trans people, said that very few even have Aadhaar cards. However, the scheme by Chadha's office will now at least in his constituency, kick in to help trans people get their government documentation, specifically, everything they need to avail ration.