State Transgender board lies dormant, needs fresh impetus

When the Transgender Welfare Board was set up in 2008 by the DMK government, it sent a positive signal to those in the community. Over the years, however, with change in regimes, the board needs a lot more attention and is far from reaching its full potential, claim the stakeholders.

Says Sudha, a non-official member of the board, “Till about seven years ago, the board had been inactive. But, it was revived partly for more than a year or two. Now, however, there has not been much action on realising the objective of economic empowerment of the community.”

She points out that there have been meetings held once in four or six months with non-official members who hail from the community participating in it. “But, after that there has been absolutely no action. We have been seeking a more active role like travelling to the districts and presenting the findings of our visits as consultants. However, we are mere representatives at a meeting and our roles end there,” she said.

Sudha added that there was a Supreme Court Ruling from 2014 that said the states could make reservations for the community in public appointments and educational institutions. “There has been no policy decision made so far. Even the Social Welfare Department, that is in charge of the board, has many roles for the community, but there are no steps taken in that direction.” The courts have been our last resort to retain jobs or ensure placement, she pointed out.

Jaya, the general manager of NGO Sahodaran that works for the LGBTQI community, says that while the accessibility of schemes have been a lot easier in the state for the community, an active and effective board would ensure there is a uniformity in the access for those across the state and not a select few. “In Chennai, the free housing sanctions have happened faster than we imagined. But what about the representations we would like to make to the Centre, especially when it has been mooting a bill concerning Trainpersons,” she asks.

There has been no consensus between government departments about the enumeration of the community, point out the members. “While the Health Department that has been conducting awareness programmes on HIV says there are 35,000, the Social Welfare Department says that the number is around 5,500, going by the number of identity cards issued,” says Sudha.

The board has the potential to reach out to those from the community even in the rural areas, says AJ Hariharan, founder of Indian Community Welfare Organisation, working for the upliftment of transgenders. Hariharan says, “This board has inspired similar action in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and the functioning of it was also studied by government representative from other states. But today, it is grossly underutilised.”

K Jeyaganesh, state lead of Swasti, a health resource centre, that has been working closely with the community in 12 districts, adds that the board was set up by passing a GO. “They should have stepped it up by appointing a special officer like it is in the disability department. The ID cards too can be made multilingual for the benefit of the transgenders migrating to other states.”

Olga Aaron, the founder of BRAVOH Movement who for policy and legal recognition for the community and non-official member, maintains that social schemes are accessible, and the credit should go to the officials and government. “Expecting magic from the welfare board is unfair. It takes time. We have free surgeries, are receiving Voter IDs, family cards and other major benefits. In Chennai, 600 were given free housing but the next step — ensuring education and employment — too is important. We need laws for it, and we are expecting a transgender protection bill. Lastly, without family acceptance empowerment and legitimisation are a difficult ask,” says Olga.

Admitting that there are a whole lot of challenges for the state when it concerns transgenders, V Amuthavalli, Director of Social Welfare Department,reveals that they are in the process of collating the actual numbers that would give direction for their efforts. “We want to know how some of them have been left out of the enumeration. Moreover, we are also in the process of revising guidelines as per the Supreme Court order. It will take some time and owing to the different types of category in the group, we want to comprehend their mindset and attitudes,” she said, adding that a lot is left to be done.