Conclusion The term third gender hasbeen used to describe hijras of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.Hijras are biological male who rejectstheir ‘masculine’ identity to identify either as woman, or”not-man”, or”in-between man and woman”, or “neither man nor woman”. .Hijras social life is totally different from mainstream social life. The mostsignificant relationship in the Hijra community is that of the guruma (master,teacher) and chela (disciple).According to the Census of2011 4.9 lakh people of India have identified then as people belonging to thirdgender, with Utter Pradesh having highest no of people belonging to Thirdgender(1,37,000) .
The censusdata revealed the low literacy level inthe community, just 46%, compared to 74% literacy in the general population Hijras have a recorded history in the Indiansubcontinent. There is recognition of “third sex” or persons notconfirm to male or female gender in the writings of ancient India. The conceptof “tritiyaprakriti” or “napumsaka” had been an integral part of the Hindumythology, folklore, epic and early Vedic and Puranic literatures.
Duringthe period of Mughals they rose to well known positions as political advisors,administrators,generals as well as guardians of the haremsThough historically,transgender persons/Hijras had played a prominent role, but with the dawn ofcolonial rule in India from 18th century onwards, the situation had changed,because during the colonial rule The Criminal Tribes Act, 1871 was enacted tosupervise the deeds of TGC/hijras , which deemed the entire community of transgenderpersons as innately „criminal” and„addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences”In the contemporary time the Government of Indiaintroduced so many welfare policy and schemes such as, census(2011),documentation, issuing of the citizenship ID Cards, issuing passports (2005),givingvoting rights(1994) social-economical development and constitutional safeguardsfor the transgender people. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a major initiative of the 11th Five YearPlan period which brought employment opportunities for transgender people. Recent Judgment on National LegalServices Authority v. Union of India (NLSA) case is considered as a stepforward that recognizes the constitutional and other legal rights of transgendercommunity and their gender identification as well as sexual orientation. Thecase is a milestone in the expounding of recognition of transgender as a personbefore the law and equal protection of the laws.Finally it can be said that the situation ischanging slowly.
Now they are organizing and try to set up their position inthe society. Currently there are many organisations in many cities in India , such asHumsafar(Mumbai), Alternative Law forum(Banglore), Sangama(Karnataka) workingfor LGBT rights. As a human being they are also fighting for their recognitionin the society.
