Assam government sets up board for policy implementation for Transgender
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The policy that has been approved by the Assam government, if implemented properly, is set to put an end to gender discrimination against transgender people in the State.
Under the Assam State Policy for Transgender people approved in March this year, the State government has already set up the Transgender Welfare Board (TWB) with the State Social Welfare Minister as its chairman for proper and timely implementation of the policy. Such boards will also come up at the district level under the policy.
The objectives of the policy are to address problems being faced by transgender people in areas like education, economic opportunities, public services, employment, social security, health etc.
Some tangible measures which the State government wants to ensure through the policy are – registration of the names of transgender people in employment exchanges in the State and send their names for recruitment to various departments without any discrimination, providing them basic services like shelter and sanitation by creating infrastructure to cater to their needs, implementing special health schemes for them, issuing them identity cards and ration cards, free of cost vocational training etc so as to put an end to any gender discrimination against them.
Even though the 2011 census put the number of transgender people in Assam at 11,374 and their literacy rate at 53.6 per cent, there is doubt over the credentials of these figures as there might be many transgender people hesitating to disclose their gender status. The policy wants a professional agency to conduct the census of transgender people of the State, register their names and issue them identity cards so as to enable them to avail all benefits that are meant for other people of the State.
The Transgender Welfare Board is to meet ones in every three-month period. The board ensures that gender I-cards are acceptable to all authorities for use in all official documents.