“Nature chooses who will be transgender; individuals
don’t choose this.” – Mercedes Ruehl
Speaking of transgenders in India, who are estimated to
constitute 3 million of the 1.2 billion population, one will be intuited to
associate them with Lord Ardhanari, a combined form of Shiva and Parvati, in
whom they find respect and recognition, as they have been less or not
successful in gaining a place of identification in the Indian society till
recently.
According to a legend, the dead
body of a eunuch is given 27 beatings with slippers by the group the eunuch
belongs to so that the individual is not born as a eunuch in the next life.
Ostracized from the mainstream and insulted even in death, transgenders have
not been treated humanely i.e. they have been denied the right to education,
normal living standards, employment opportunities, ill treated by the police
(rape) on the basis of their identity and portrayed as a laughing-stock by the
media. But few have been able to break the stigma and that has been made
possible only after a series of prolonged and challenging struggles. The
Government of Bihar has appointed transgenders as tax collectors since 2006
wherein they shame the taxpayer by singing loudly outside his/her property so
that the tax is paid on time. In 2008, Tamil Nadu became the first state to
establish a transgender welfare board aimed at improving the transgenders’
quality of life.The transgender welfare policy of Tamil Nadu ensures the transgender community the following:
- Free Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) in the Government Hospitals (only for MTF)
- Free housing programs
- Citizenship documents
- Admission to government colleges providing full scholarship for higher studies
- Providing sources of livelihood through formation of self-help groups (for savings)
- Initiatiation of income-generation programmes (IGP)
Yet for many transgenders the method of making ends meet is
prostitution. But then this state of affairs was not to remain for long. As a landmark move for the
transgender community in India, the Supreme Court recognized them as the “third
gender” on April 15th, 2014. This entitles the transgender community
with access to quotas for public jobs, admission to educational institutions
and voting rights helping them overcome social and economic challenges and thus
helping them in moving into the mainstream society. This step by the Supreme
Court allows the transgender section to identity themselves as a third gender
on official documents opposed to an earlier situation where they were forced to
discern themselves as either male or female when in reality they were none of
the stated genders. This decision applies only to transgenders and not to the
rest of the LGBT community. In the transgender case, Section 377 was cited as
an instrument of discrimination against transgender people.
The state of Karnataka was quick in addressing the issue of transgenders after the SCs move and proposed the following measures to ensure the welfare of the transgender community under the draft titled "State policy for transgenders in Karnataka, 2014":
- Self-employment grant for individual/groups up to Rs 1.5 lakh
- Formation of transgender self-help groups and vocational training in jewellery making, as beauticians, tailors etc
- Santhwana centres to assist transgenders who are victims of atrocities and those in crisis
- Education grants to transgender students as per norms of OBC scholarships
- Grant of Rs 6 lakh for sex reassignment surgery; they will be brought under Yeshasvini and Rashtriya Bima Yojana health insurance schemes
- Ration cards under PDS
- Monthly pension scheme for destitute transgenders
- Providing job opportunities under MG-NREGS
Another recent development concerning the transgender rights was the passing of The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014 by the Rajya Sabha on 24th April, 2015. This is a private member's bill introduced by Tiruchi Siva, a Member of the Parliament from Tamil Nadu. The Bill provides for creation of welfare boards at the Centre and State
level for the community, Transgender Rights Courts, two per cent
reservation in government jobs and prohibits discrimination in
employment. It also makes provisions for pensions and unemployment
allowances for members of the community.
Internationally, the rights of the transgender community are recognised by the Yogyakarta Principles. It is a set of principles relating to sexual orientation and gender identity, intended to apply international human rights law standards to address the abuse of the human rights of the LGBTQ community formulated by the meeting of International Commission of Jurists, the International Service of Human Rights and various human rights experts in Indonesia in the year 2006.
The
Yogyakarta Principles are a set of principles that are meant to
establish an international standard for human rights law with respect to
sexual orientation and gender identity - See more at:
http://orinam.net/resources-for/law-and-enforcement/un-yogyakarta-and-lgbt-equality/#sthash.hQI1lyJZ.dpuf
The
Yogyakarta Principles are a set of principles that are meant to
establish an international standard for human rights law with respect to
sexual orientation and gender identity - See more at:
http://orinam.net/resources-for/law-and-enforcement/un-yogyakarta-and-lgbt-equality/#sthash.hQI1lyJZ.dpuf
Justice KS Radha Krishnan stated
in the ruling that, “Recognition of transgenders as a third gender is not a
social or medical issue but a human rights issue”. The recognition of
transgenders as the third gender is certainly a progressive step but it is
essential that the unwillingness exhibited by most of the Indian society in
accepting them changes with time.
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