The Central Government constituted the ‘National Council for Transgender Persons’ which will be headed by the Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment.

The Council which has been formed under Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 will reportedly have representatives from various ministries, commissions, experts and selected members of the community.

According to reports, the Council will have joint secretary-level members from the ministries of health, home, minority affairs, education, rural development, labour and law.

Additionally, to ensure every aspect regarding the community is considered, there will be a member from the department of pensions, NITI Aayog, National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Women.

Reports have highlighted that five representatives of the transgender community, one each from the north, south, east, west and northeast regions have also been announced, for fair representation, on a rotational basis.

Five experts from non-governmental organisations have also been named to the commission. The tenure of the Council members shall be three years.

The National Council will advise the Centre on the formulation of policies, programmes, legislation and projects with respect to transgender persons.

It will also monitor and evaluate the impact of policies and programmes designed for achieving equality.

The members of the Council will 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 and will also be tasked to redress the grievances of transgender persons.

‘Intersex people are often invisibilized in the legal and policy discourse. The distinction between gender identity and sex characteristics is also not understood. To bring about changes in the existing governance regime, it is important to work and engage with the system. During my tenure in the Council, I plan to raise awareness about rights of intersex people in general and intersex infants and children in particular. I hope to contribute in developing a comprehensive legal protection regime for intersex people,’ Hindustan Times quoted panel member Gopi Shankar M.

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