Delhi’s Social Welfare Minister Ravinder Indraj Singh on Friday assured that the government will undertake efforts to raise public awareness about transgender rights, promote their social inclusion, and inform them about the available welfare schemes.
The minister also stated that a notification regarding the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules will soon be issued.
Indraj said, “Under the directive of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, the department is making it mandatory to include a ‘Third Gender’ option in the application forms of all government welfare schemes, to ensure that Divyang (differently-abled) transgender individuals can fully avail themselves of these benefits.”
A delegation of transgender representatives met the Delhi Social Welfare Minister on Friday as part of the National Transgender Day Week celebrations.
During the meeting, Indraj informed the delegation about various government schemes aimed at enabling transgender individuals to live with dignity and become self-reliant.
The delegation celebrated ‘Transgender Day’ by cutting a cake with the minister. They expressed their joy, stating that for the first time, a government has shown serious concern for their rights and self-reliance, and has directly engaged with them to share information about welfare initiatives.
The delegation included transgender individuals Simran Arora, Rehana Yadav, Sanjana Simone, Saransh Pathak, Bhanu, and Soumya Garg, along with Arun Sharma from the Lucky Hindustani Foundation and Deepchandra Deepak from the Community Empowerment Trust.