March 19, 2015
West Bengal Govt forms India’s first Transgender Development Board
Dr Sashi Panja, Minister-In-Charge for Women and Child Development, Government of West Bengal addressed a Press Conference at Nabanna and announced the State Cabinet has passed the constitution of the Transgender Development Board, the first such Board in the country.
While addressing the Press Conference the Minister said that the constitution of the Board was done on the initiative of the West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee who is very much concerned for this section of the people. The transgender community are often seen to be deprived of education, employment and health related issues.
“They are reduced to begging on the streets and face other forms socio-economic discrimination,” said the Minister.
She said that the representatives of the transgender community have been meeting the Chief Minister on this issue.
To address these problems the Chief Minister came up with an idea to constitute a Board for Transgender Development. The Board will have 12 persons, to be headed by a Chairperson. This Board will represent various transgender communities in the state and coordinate with the State’s Coordination Committee, which will be headed by the Minister of Women and Child Development.
The Board will distribute Identification Cards to the members of the transgender community, taking care of education, health and employment related issues. They will uphold all Rights as Citizens of India for their people and take care of the population census too.
The State Cabinet has passed this very important decision and has given a green signal to set up this Development Board, which is the first of its kind in the country.
