Life of Hijras has always been a mystery in India. I was looking for some information when I came across an interesting article on Wikipedia where I found out a few interesting things about them. One of them being that the Hijras used to be employed as the servants for female royalty in the imperial palaces and enjoyed a very high status in those times. In fact many families converted one of their children into a Hijra so that the child could get a good job in one of the palaces which would ensure a steady income for the family. Later this practice was banned by Aurangzeb in 1668. Compare that to the present time where they are not being given the respect that any human being deserves. Agreed their blessings are revered by many families who welcome them whenever a child is born or there is a shop opening where they come, sing, give their blessings and in turn get sweets, sarees and money from the families and that is it. This doesn't guarantee a livelihood as we see them asking for money at traffic signals, in trains etc. They don't get jobs as people are not ready to accept them for what they are. Today, as we see, they are suffering and being deprived of a normal life for no fault of theirs which is very unfair. So the least that we can do for them is to create opportunities where even they get a chance to live a normal life as we do.
One solution that I suggest is this: Pharmaceutical companies can develop a new distribution channel with their help. Their network is very strong and they are always aware of the number of births taking place in a particular area. Since they visit all those houses where a birth takes place, companies can ask them to sell their baby care products to those families and at the same time companies can also get data about the likely births in a particular area which can help them predict demand and make arrangements in advance. People are more likely to listen to them than those salesmen who at times can irritate people to death. This will lead to a situation where the Hijras will get a normal livelihood and companies will develop a new distribution channel and it will also act as a CSR activity. I know that their reach is restricted to certain areas but still that shouldn’t stop companies from taking their help in selling their products as they, I certainly believe, have the potential to become the best sales force.
Sounds good but considering the medium of door to door selling which by itself doesn't have much impact on the indian consumers, the solution will still not guarantee any livelihood to them. May be if mindset of consumers change and company can achieve good proportion of their sales through door to door sales then this can surely turn into livelihood for Hijras.
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