AAP government in Delhi has initiated the process to set up a Transgender Welfare Board in the state soon. Delhi’s Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam has asked his department to form a committee to study the condition of transgender people in the state. The committee will comprise of two transgender people, representatives from organisations working for transgender welfare, and officials from the social welfare department, the minister told Times of India. The board will be set up in six months time.
“The Transgender Welfare Board will incorporate the recommendations of the committee in its report. The government will then initiate schemes for their development and give them equality in society,” Gautam said. The move came after a transgender person named Kritika wrote to the Delhi Government asking it why the government had not come up with welfare schemes for the transgender community, despite the NALSA verdict by the Supreme Court in 2014.
“The AAP government is sensitive to the rights of the people living on the margins of society. We want not only to protect the human and constitutional rights of the transgenders, but also give them a better life,” the minister said.