On August 21, 2020, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 16 of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 (40 of 2019) the Central Government constituted the India’s first 30-member National Council for Transgender Persons to advice, monitor and evaluate measures for the protection of the rights of Transgender community .
- Council will work with states for ensuring setting up transgender welfare boards in all states and looking after the essential needs of the community, like housing, food, healthcare and education.
Structure of Council:
The 30-member council is consisted of 1Chairperson, 1 Vice-Chairperson, 13 members, 14 nominated members and 1 member secretary which is explained as below:
—Chairperson: Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment (SJ&E)
- Current- Thaawar Chand Gehlot
—Vice-chairperson: Minister of State (MoS), SJ&E
—Members:
- Secretary, SJ&E
- 10 representatives not below the rank of a Joint Secretary from the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare, Home Affairs, Housing and Urban Affairs, Minority Affairs, Ministry of Education, Rural Development, Labour and Employment, Department of Legal Affairs, the Department of Pensions and Pensioners Welfare and the NITI (National Institute for Transforming India) Aayog.
- 2 representatives from Commissions not below the rank of Joint Secretary from National Human Rights Commission, and National Commission for Women
—Nominated Members:
- 5 Representatives of transgender community from 5 regions North, South, East, West and North-East viz. Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Gopi Shankar Madurai, Meera Parida, Zainab Javid Patel and Kak Chingtabam Shyamcand Sharma respectively.
- 5 Representatives of the State Governments and Union territories (UT) by rotation, one each from the North (Jammu & Kashmir), South (Andhra Pradesh), East (Odisha), West (Gujarat) and North-East regions (Tripura).
- 4 experts, to represent non-governmental organisations or associations, working for the welfare of transgender persons: Aryan Pasha, Vihaan Peethambar, Reshma Prasad, and Patel Chandubhai Ganeshdas.
The tenure of the community members and experts shall be 3 years.
—Secretary:
Joint Secretary in the Ministry of SJ&E dealing with the welfare of the transgender persons.
Recent Related News:
On June 26, 2020, to celebrate “International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking” on the theme Better knowledge for better care, Rattan Lal Kataria, MoS, SJ&E has virtually launched “Nasha Mukt Bharat: Annual Action Plan (AAP) (2020-21) for 272 Most Affected Districts” from New Delhi. He also released Logo and Tagline for National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) for 2018-2025 and 9 Video Spots produced for Drug Abuse Prevention.
About Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (SJ&E):
Minister of State (MoS)– Krishan Pal Gurjar, Rattan Lal Kataria, and Ramdas Athawale
