Centre Forms National Council for Transgenders to Formulate Policies Aimed at Equality & Participation

The Centre has constituted the National Council for Transgender Persons to formulate policies, programmes, legislation and projects regarding members of the community for achieving equality and full participation by them. The council was established by the Centre in exercise of the powers conferred by the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, according to a gazette notification issued late on Friday night.

According to the Act, the functions of the council include advising the Centre on the formulation of policies, programmes, legislation and projects with respect to transgender persons; monitoring and evaluating the impact of policies and programmes designed for achieving equality and full participation of transgender persons.

The other functions of the council are to review and coordinate the activities of all the departments of government and other governmental and non-governmental organisations dealing with matters relating to transgender persons, to redress the grievances of transgender persons, and to perform such other functions as may be prescribed by the Centre.

The council have representatives from community members, five states and 10 central departments. Its chairperson will be the Union Minister of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment while the vice-chairperson will be the junior minister in the ministry, according to the gazette notification.

The other members will be from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry Home Affairs, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Minority Affairs ministry and Rural Development ministry among others, it said. The representatives of the state governments and union territories by rotation, one each from the north, south, east, west and northeast regions have also been announced. Also, five representatives of the transgender community, one each from the north, south, east, west and northeast regions have also been announced.

Meera Parida, a member from the transgender community, representing the east region in the council said they will probably be tasked with identifying issues faced by the community members and advise the government on it. "We have not yet been given any details. But I think we will be given the responsibility for helping the government in identifying the problems faced by the transgender community members and probable solutions," Parida told PTI.