Uttar Pradesh Government announces Transgender Welfare Board
The Uttar Pradesh government is all set to establish a Transgender Welfare Board under the state’s Social Welfare Department. This comes soon after the state government granted transgender people the right to inherit their ancestral agricultural land.
Acoording to state government official statement, “The Board would work for the welfare and upliftment of the transgender community. Along with the state government officers, the Board would also include transgender representatives and the members of the social organizations working for the welfare of the transgenders.”
The board is responsible for identifying transgender people, enlisting them, issuing identity cards, enrolling them to various educational institutions, and providing them with accommodation at various hostels and housing schemes listed under the state government., the government official said
The UP Kinnar Akhada Parishad had demanded the constitution of the transgender welfare board after the Supreme Court in its order in 2014 recognized transgender as the third gender. The Central government’s expert committee had directed the UP government to constitute a welfare board for transgenders, he said.
In March 2019, the State Law Commission, in a proposal submitted to the government, had raised the demand for a law acknowledging the inheritance rights of the ‘third gender’. The commission’s chairman justice AN Mittal had drawn attention of the government towards the inheritance laws that missed the transgenders.
During the monsoon session, the legislative assembly passed the UP Revenue Code Bill, 2020 to allow the transgender people in the state to inherit ancestral agriculture land.
