Parliamentary panel favours reservations for transgender community in India

The panel called the transgender community the most marginalised in the country and suggested giving quotas to them.

A parliamentary panel examining the Transgender Bill has suggested that the government should consider reservations for the transgender community as it is among the most marginalised in the country.

A transgender casts vote at a polling booth in Mumbai on February 21. (Pratham Gokhale/HT PHOTO)

Members of the standing committee on social justice and empowerment have conveyed to top government officials that they should consider giving quotas to transgenders, said an MP who is a member of the panel.

Transgenders are the most marginalised in the country, and a mechanism should be developed for education and employment of the community so that they can lead a respectful life, another MP said.

The committee is examining the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016, which seeks to define the term “transgender” and prohibits discrimination against the community.

The Bill confers the right upon transgender people to be recognised as such and also grants them the right to “self- perceived” gender identity.

It provides for a grievance redress mechanism in each establishment to ensure the rights of transgenders are protected and they are insulated from any sort of harassment or discrimination.

It was introduced in the Lok Sabha in July last year, but was later referred to the standing committee.

According to the 2011 Census, India has six lakh people belonging to the transgender community.

The community is among the most backward in the country because they do not fit into the categories of the two recognised genders of men and women.

They face issues ranging from social exclusion and discrimination to lack of educational and medical facilities, and unemployment.