The Indian government on Friday announced that it has constituted India's first National Council for Transgender Persons. This body has been formed in accordance with the Transgender Persons (Protection Rights) Act, 2019.
The council will be led by the Union Social Justice and Empowerment minister as chairperson.
National Council for Transgender Persons
On 21st August, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment issued a gazette notification announcing the constituted National Counce for Transgender Persons in India. The council is meant to advise the central government on legislation and grievance redressal of the community as well as assessing the impact of government policies and programmes.
In the notification, the council is constituted by 5 categories of members, with the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment as the chairperson and the Minister of State, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as the Vice-Chairperson.
The Ex-officio Members of the department on the council are:
- Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
- Representatives not below the rank of a Joint Secretary, in the following Ministries/Departments:
i. Health and Family Welfare
ii. Home Affairs
iii. Housing and Urban Affairs
iv. Minority Affairs
v. Human Resources Development
vi. Rural Development
vii. Labour and Employment
viii. Department of Legal Affairs
ix. Department of Pensions and Pensioners Welfare and
x. National Institute for Transforming India Aayog
It will also consist of member representatives from the two commissions— the National Commission for Women and the National Human Rights Commission. Apart from these, the council will also see representatives from 5 state governments- Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha and Tripura.
The council has also enlisted 5 representatives from the transgender community— Shri Laxmi Narayan Tripathi (North Region), Shri Gopi Shankar Madurai (South Region), Ms Meera Parida (East Region), Ms Zainab Javid Patel (West Region) and Shri Kak Chingtabam Shyamcand Sharma (North-East Region). Five experts representing NGOs working for transgender welfare in the country and a member secretary are also on the council.
