Last week, when Pallavi Parab got the registration from Maharashtra Social Welfare Department for the Kinnar Asmita Self Help Group – the first Self Help Group (SHG) for transgender community in Ratnagiri district – life came full circle for her.
Parab’s SHG, which has 10 members as board of directors, aims to start training courses for the community. “The Municipal Council provides land to SHGs. We will soon be applying for such land allocation to start our training institute,” she said.
Until a few years ago, Parab had to face backlash, including physical violence, for deciding to work for the uplift of her community.
“It was poetic justice. But when the people who criticised me saw the whole government supporting our work and endorsing the SHG, they came to me to apologise and expressed their desire to work with me,” she said.
When Parab started her work as a Community Resource Person, the picturesque town of Ratnagiri was not quite welcoming.
“The outlook here is that there are no gays or transgender persons in this town. So when I started work I faced a lot of discrimination. There were attacks on me both physical and verbal, it was not easy. But soon I found support in fellow transgender people who did not want to beg for a living,” she said.
Another place where Parab found support was working with the government machinery. “The police, the college and the social welfare department helped me to set up my work,” she said.
Due to odd circumstances, Parab could not complete her school education. When most of the people in her community are pushed to beggary, often due to social taboos, Parab chose to gain access to dignified livelihood sources.
Working closely with the government, Parab managed to ensure she and other like-minded people in her community got their necessary documents like ration cards, Aadhaar cards etc.
“For us transgender, sources of livelihood are few and far between. The government schemes which we qualify for, do not reach us and it is to plug this gap. This SHG would be the first step towards realising this,” she said.
An SHG, is a grassroot-level organisation which allows its members to access organised finance from banks. The SHG movement is particularly popular among women which allows them to be financially independent through micro saving.
“Employment opportunities are very few for us. One of the avenues that we would like to explore is to try for a contract to run a food stall at railway station,” she said.
In the long run, Parab hopes their SHG gets to run a Citizen Facilitation Centre which would help them generate steady revenue. “Of course, everything is on paper. But we are sure we will be able to get to it,” she said, keeping her fingers crossed.
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