Unable to meet the sales targets for two months, Pune-based Manish Jain, who was a deputy general manager at a private firm, was in an agitated state of mind. The sight of a transgender person easily collecting alms at a traffic signal was enough for him to lose his cool and yell at her. “I was really disappointed and took out all my frustration on that hapless transgender. All she did was smile, place a hand over my head and whisper “sab accha hoga (all will be well)” recalls Manish. Within an hour of that episode he got a call saying an order worth Rs 7 lakh for the machines had been approved!
That was 10 years ago. Jain, who was in his early 30s then, was flooded with a sense of guilt when he recalled his rude behaviour towards the transgender community. He decided to explore avenues to bring the community to the mainstream, quit his private job and set up Kineer Services in 2018. He and his team have been instrumental in creating dignified employment opportunities for over 450 members of the transgender community.
Manish Jain. (Express Photo)
Kineer Services is a platform that puts on offer skills of members of the transgender community so that interested private firms are encouraged to recruit them.
Ably supported by the Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India (who has set up Villoo Poonawalla Foundation in memory of his mother) and transgender community’s rights activist Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Jain’s efforts in training more than 450 members from the community and getting them appointment in private firms across the country was hailed by a host of associations, including Delhi-based World’s Greatest Records organisation.
“I still remember companies were hesitant in hiring members from this community as they were unsure if the transgender persons would stick on for a long time. Won’t it be a waste of time and effort to train them, they had asked,” Jain recalled.
Kineer Services is a platform that puts on offer skills of members of the transgender community so that interested private firms are encouraged to recruit them. (Express Photo)
By then Manish Jain and Laxmi Narayan Tripathi’s efforts in helping the transgender community were being noticed and to give them a boost Adar Poonawalla, according to Jain, agreed to support the project by offering salaries for the employed transgender persons for six months. “Let it be a long process where the company understands the individual so that the roadblock of hesitancy can be removed,” Poonawalla had told Jain.
Jaswinder Narang ,CEO, Villoo Poonawalla Foundation and Laxmi Narayan Tripathi , noted transgender activist and co founder of Kineer Services.
Mumbai-based Ashok Gheware, 48, who was not interested in begging or doing sales work says he is grateful for the new opportunity as an HR manager. “I have a diploma in electrical engineering. However, I was unable to find a suitable job. I had come out a long time ago as a transgender and for the past 15 years earned my living as a peer educator, outreach worker to project manager across NGOs working in the field of HIV/AIDS. Thanks to Manish Jain’s initiative, this is for the first time that I feel deeply satisfied,” says Ashok who now recruits members from the transgender community for Sodexo firm.
“What is more, there is dignity in the job and my work is appreciated,” Ashok adds.
New Delhi-based Jasmine Khan, 22, belongs to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community. She has passed Class 12 and works as a cashier at a Hyderabad-based firm. “Manish Jain had helped my partner Monica Meet Sharma during the lockdown and I too applied for a job via their Trans-formation initiative. I have been working in Hyderabad for a year now,” Jasmine says.
Manish had earlier initiated a packaged drinking water brand ‘Kineer’ which employs only transgender members and during the Covid-19 pandemic he had distributed dry ration to over five lakh transgender families. Another initiative included ‘Parivartan ka Teeka’, a pan-India free vaccination drive that was conducted in association with Villoo Poonawalla Foundation and Apollo Hospitals.
The latest skill building opportunity was supported by the Dr Cyrus Poonawalla Skill Development Centre for 11 different courses ranging from fashion designing to modules on becoming a baker. More than 100 transgender members have been trained at this centre at Pune Camp. ‘Kineer Services’ also works closely with orphanages of Padma Shri recipient the late Sindhutai Sapkal and has managed the renovation of her ashrams at Saswad and Manjari with the help of the Villoo Poonawalla Foundation.
