Four transgender persons hit by pandemic bag jobs in Noida

Since the last five years, Maya, as well as the other candidates hired by the private firm — Arohi Verma, (30), Shagun, (27), and Samiksha, (26), have been involved with the NGO where they are given vocational skills training to make them eligible for jobs at private firms

For the last 10 years, Maya Bedi, a transgender person, was dependent on her dancing skills to earn a living, but earlier this month, she got a new lease of life when she was offered a dignified job at the warehouse of a diagnostics laboratory in Noida.

The transgender persons have been hired as full-time employees at a diagnostic laboratory in Noida’s Sector 63. (Sourced)

The 26-year-old is one of the four transgender persons hired by a private diagnostic lab in Sector 63 with a salary of ₹15,000 per month. They were part of a recruitment drive organised by Noida-based NGO ‘Basera Samajik Sansthan’, which works for the upliftment of the transgender community in Delhi-NCR.

“This job will change my life. We were compelled to dance and sing to earn a living. Nobody dances at traffic signals out of choice. I learnt to speak and write English but nobody was ready to give me a job because of my gender,” said Maya, a resident of Noida’s Sector 5.

Since the last five years, Maya, as well as the other candidates hired by the private firm — Arohi Verma, (30), Shagun, (27), and Samiksha, (26), have been involved with the NGO where they are given vocational skills training to make them eligible for jobs at private firms.

Samiksha — also a resident of Sector 5 — earned her living by being a part of dance groups. Arohi used to work as a salesperson in a mall before losing her job due to the Covid-19 pandemic, while Shagun was working at a labour court in Delhi but also lost her job during the pandemic. All the four transgender members have completed their class 12 from government schools in Delhi.

“After we lost our jobs in 2020, we were helpless and vulnerable,” said Arohi, a resident of Dallupura village in Delhi.

Ramkali, who runs the NGO and is also a transgender, does employment advocacy for her community at various private firms in Noida and Greater Noida. However, she says that it has been difficult to convince private firms to hire transgender people. “Ours is the only NGO in Noida that works for this marginalised section of society”, she said.

“The last time transgender people were hired in respectable jobs here was when the Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) renamed the Sector 50 station as the Pride Metro station. Six people from our NGO were hired on a contract basis. Since then, it has been close to two years that we have been working hard to generate more employment for the transgender community, but in vain,” said Ramkali.

In February this year, a call from Redcliffe Labs in Sector 63 came as a ray of hope for her.

“They expressed interest in hiring from our NGO and by February-end, a recruitment drive was held at our office in Sector 6 where four transgender persons were hired. They started work from March 4 at the logistics department in the company’s warehouse,” said Ramkali.

Each candidate was hired after an elaborate interview. Officials at the firm say they are positive about creating a friendly workplace for transgender members and have zero-tolerance for inequality.

“We hired third gender employees as part of an initiative called ‘Team Rainbow’ under which we stress on gender equality at the workplace. As an integral part of our logistics team, these team members have been assigned the task of kit packaging in our central warehouse. We are delighted to be the first company in the healthcare domain who took an informed decision to employ transgender members,” said Dheeraj Jain, founder of Redcliffe Labs.

Today, Maya, Arohi, Shagun and Samiksha are leading lives with dignity and respect. “In my locality in Dallupura village, I have got newfound respect from the locals and neighbours. My family members who used to be dismissive about my career, have also accepted me wholeheartedly. I hope other members of our community can also get similar opportunities,” said Arohi.