Transgender Persons Protection of Rights Bill, 2018
Que: While legal recognition is the first step, mainstreaming transgender community is still a pipe dream in India. In this context, critically evaluate the adequacy of Transgender Persons Protection of Rights Bill 2018.
Approach:
• Introduce with what it means to mainstreaming transgender.
• Introduce the bill with major objectives.
• Highlight inadequacies of the bill – on self-identification, awareness, reservations etc.
• Conclude appropriately
Answer:
For a successful rights-based society, it is imperative to recognize that gender is an innate experience of an individual. Subjecting a community to socio-economic discrimination on the basis of gender is tantamount to grave violation of their fundamental rights, far from mainstreaming them.
Transgender Persons Bill, 2018:
The Transgender Persons Bill, 2018 seeks to define, protect and empower transgender community in India by prohibiting discrimination, assuring the Right to be recognized as transgender, Right to residence, calling for welfare schemes etc. However, the Bill falls short with lacunae at a fundamental level.
Evaluation of major issues
1. Issue of Self-identification
• The Bill defines the transgender person thereby leaving no scope for ambiguity.
• However, it has a provision that district screening committee is required to certify one as transgender.
• This goes against the spirit of the 2014 NALSA judgment of the Supreme Court, which recognizes self-determination of gender of transgender. Further, it violates the Fundamental Right to Privacy of a person who has to undergo a cumbersome bureaucratic process in order have a mere ‘gender identity’.
2. Promoting their interests
• The Bill prohibits discrimination against a transgender person and directs the governments to provide welfare schemes in areas such as education, employment and healthcare.
• However, some activists have criticized the lack of provisions for reservation of jobs and in educational institutions.
3. Legal Mainstreaming
• Legal mainstreaming is a precursor to societal mainstream.
• Currently, several laws in India do not have adequate provisions for transgender. For instance, Section 376 of IPC dealing with rape cases has provision only for women and not transgender.
4. Awareness:
• Legal protection has been provided as a deterrent to harassment or violence.
• However, to erase the blight of stigma from the mindset of common people we need more focus on awareness. The bill overlooks this aspect.
5. Criminalization of Begging:
• The bill provides for penalty against people who ‘compel’ or ‘entice’ transgender into begging.
• This provision could be misused against some of the transgenders involved in begging and could prove to be loss of livelihood along with harassment.
While the move towards legal recognition of transgenders is an important step, mainstreaming of transgender community is a work in progress. A two-pronged approach involving both affirmative action of the state and attitudinal shift of the society is necessary to mainstream the long-discriminated transgender community in India.