The Bhartiya Janta Party led Maharashtra government on Friday formed a Transgender Welfare Board to provide formal education, employment opportunities, conduct health programmes and give legal help to the community. State Social Justice Minister Rajkumar Badole recently chaired a meeting in for the setting up of the transgender welfare board.
Minister tweeted to Inform about the Welfare Board. The ‘Transgender Welfare Board’ has been constituted by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment to provide social security to the community.
राज्यात तृतीयपंथीय कल्याण मंडळाची स्थापना https://t.co/5NM22eTbGA
— Rajkumar Badole (Modi Ka Pariwar) (@RajkumarSBadole) February 22, 2019
Asserting that transgenders are neglected in society, Minister said “They are discriminated against. This keeps the community away from the development process. The state government has accepted guardianship of this community and we will protect their rights,” Badole added.
Social Justice Minister said,’ The Board will take effective measures for the upliftment of this community and allow them to live with respect in society”. He added that Transgender Welfare Board (TWB) will give members of the community identity cards that will help them to get Education.
Minister Badole added that those eligible would also be provided hostel accommodation under the Babasaheb Ambedkar Swadhar Scheme. Under this scheme, Rs 48000-60000 would be given as scholarship annually.
The TWB will also implement skill development programmes to help educated transgenders get jobs, he said.
A similar exercise was carried out by the Congress-led Democratic Front government in Maharashtra in 2014 but the board could not be formed. The new move comes when Lok Sabha polls are around the corner and state Assembly elections are scheduled for later this year.
Earlier this week, Gujarat Government in a similar action formed a special board for the transgender community. Gujarat Transgender Welfare Board will have 16 other members, including two transgender-women representatives, two male transgenders, two from the eunuch community and two representatives of NGOs. The rest of the members will be government officials.
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