The Male to Female (MTF) Transgenders in India commonly known as the Hijras are one of the hardly researched, abused, scorned, and callously neglected groups in Indian Society. This paper is part of the doctoral research submitted to the University of Mumbai entitled ‘The Status of Hijras in Civil Society: A Study of Hijras in Greater Mumbai.’ The objectives of this paper are to showcase briefly the socio economic status of hijras and to understand the problems faced by them with specific reference to their health and the harassment hijras face due to the Police.

The genes that control the response of the human immune system vary enormously between individuals. Understanding the evolution of these genetic differences and how they individualize immune responses is central to understanding how the immune system works in health and disease. In this regard, the KhoeSan of southern Africa are particularly informative because they are genetically diverse, divergent from other modern human populations and have been subject to unique demographic history. In the KhoeSan population, we studied variable genes that control natural killer cell function.