Bill seeks to recognise and protect transgenders

The legislation will impact 4.87 lakh people who have listed themselves as the “third gender” in Census 2011. It defines a transgender as one “whose sense of identity does not match with the gender assigned to that person at the time of birth” and includes persons who are neither wholly male nor wholly female, as well as a combination of the two. The certification of their identity is to be done by district-level screening committees including the chief medical officer, a psychologist and representatives from the transgender community. Once the certificate is issued, such persons will have the right to change their first name in their birth certificate.

The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot. N K Premchandran (RSP) opposed it on the grounds that a private member’s bill on transgender rights is pending in the Lok Sabha after it was passed by the Rajya Sabha. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, however, gave permission for introducing the bill stating that the bills might be “somewhat the same” but are not identical. The private member’s bill, the first such to be passed in 45 years, had been moved by DMK’s Tiruchi Siva.

The government’s legislation prohibits anyone from discriminating against transgenders in matters of education, employment, buying or renting property and health-care services. It is, however, silent on reservation in educational institutions or jobs. It entrusts the government with the task of providing them with medical facilities, an insurance scheme and dedicated HIV sero-surveillance centres.

It also paves the way for setting up a National Council for Transgender Persons to monitor the impact of policy decisions.