In 2006, a small group of transgender persons in Noida decided they would no longer wait for others to speak for them. They started Basera Samajik Sansthan. This year, Basera turns twenty.

The early years were about simply being seen. Through our first project, Pehchan, we learned how to run an organisation and helped our community be recognised by health services and government offices. Over the years that followed, we worked on HIV prevention, legal rights and leadership, stood with our community through the COVID-19 lockdown, and helped thousands of people get the documents and schemes that were theirs.

Today, Basera runs a shelter home, Garima Greh, in Noida. We work on HIV prevention and care, skill training and jobs, legal aid, crisis support and social protection across Uttar Pradesh. In 2025–26 alone, we ran eleven programmes, and our teams helped people with thousands of HIV tests and nearly two thousand scheme benefits.

Some things have not changed in twenty years. Most of our team still comes from the community. People still come to us because they trust us, and because the systems meant to serve them are still hard to enter. And we still believe that the best way to change those systems is to walk into them together.

To everyone who has walked with us, our community members, staff, volunteers, partners and friends: thank you. Here is to the next twenty years.