On 21st August 2020, the Central Government has constituted a National Council for Transgender Persons. The Council has been constituted in exercise of the powers conferred by section 16 of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 (40 of 2019).
Definition of Transgender Person
As per the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, “transgender person” means a person whose gender does not match with the gender assigned to that person at birth and includes trans-man or trans-woman (whether or not such person has undergone Sex Reassignment Surgery or hormone therapy or laser therapy or such other therapy), person with intersex variations, genderqueer and person having such socio-cultural identities as kinner, hijra, aravani and jogta.
National Council for Transgender Persons
The Central Government hereby constitutes a National Council for Transgender Persons consisting of the following members, with effect from the date of publication of this notification in the Official Gazette, namely
I. Chairperson (ex-officio);
- Union Minister, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment;
II. Vice-Chairperson (ex-officio):
- Minister of State, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment;
III. Ex-Officio Members:
- 1. Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
- 2. 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
- 3. Representatives of the following Commissions not below the rank of Joint Secretary:
- i. National Human Rights Commission
- ii. National Commission for Women
IV. Nominated Members:
- 1. Representatives of the State Governments and Union territories by rotation, one each from the North, South, East, West and North-East regions
- a. Representative of UT Administration of Jammu & Kashmir- North
- b. Representative of State Government of Andhra Pradesh- South
- c. Representative of State Government of Odisha- East
- d. Representative of State Government of Gujarat- West
- e. Representative of State Government of Tripura- North-East
- 2. Five Representatives of transgender community, one each from the North, South, East, West and North-East regions:
- a. Shri Laxmi Narayan Tripathi- North Region
- b. Shri Gopi Shankar Madurai- South Region
- c. Ms. Meera Parida-East Region
- d. Ms. Zainab Javid Patel-West Region
- e. Shri Kak Chingtabam Shyamcand Sharma- North East Region
- 3. Five experts, to represent non-governmental organisations or associations, working for the welfare of transgender persons
- a. Shri Aryan Pasha
- b. Shri Vihaan Peethamba
- c. Ms. Reshma Prasad
- d. Shri Patel Chandubhai Ganeshdas
V. Member Secretary (ex-officio):
- Joint Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment dealing with the welfare of the transgender persons.
A Member of National Council, other than ex officio member, shall hold office for a term of three years from the date of his nomination.
Functions:
The National Council of Transgender Persons shall perform the following functions, namely:
- (a) to advise the Central Government on the formulation of policies, programmes, legislation and projects with respect to transgender persons;
- (b) to monitor and evaluate the impact of policies and programmes designed for achieving equality and full participation of transgender persons;
- (c) to review and coordinate the activities of all the departments of Government and other Governmental and non-Governmental Organisations which are dealing with matters relating to transgender persons;
- (d) to redress the grievances of transgender persons; and
- (e) to perform such other functions as may be prescribed by the Central Government.
References:
- National Council of Transgender Persons – Download Notification in PDF
- The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 (40 of 2019) – Download PDF
