Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the effects of life under lockdown for hijras, a 'third' gender community in India who despite being branded as carriers of the coronavirus found ways to reaffirm their positive contributions to the wider society by distributing face masks and food, crossing boundaries of care.

Paper long abstract:

On 25 March 2020, India put its population of 1.38 billion under lockdown to curb community transmission of Covid-19, giving a little under four hours' notice. This sudden announcement was not taken well by many vulnerable groups, including migrant workers, daily wagers including sex workers, and the hijras, a third-gender community in India. Members of the hijra community typically earn money by asking for voluntary donations in exchange for their blessings. Some hijras also beg at traffic intersections and on public transportation, or solicit sex in public cruising areas. These ways of self-employment are the opposite of "social distancing," a public hygiene practice the Indian government adopted in its fight against the global pandemic. As a result, these options were no longer available to the hijras as primary sources of livelihood. Compounding this predicament, there were other significant social and cultural implications of the lockdown. As fear became a breeding ground for hate, there was an increase in transphobic misinformation and "fake news" targeting the hijra community branding them as carriers of the coronavirus, including public calls to beat them. Despite these troubling circumstances, some hijras found ways to reaffirm their positive contributions to the wider society by distributing food and face masks to the public because the hijras believe that it is their moral duty to take care of their caretakers. This paper will highlight the tensions between hijras and the general public heightened during the pandemic and what impact it has on the social relations between them.