The government has begun discussions to implement the Supreme Court’s 2014 order, which directed the Centre to treat them as socially and educationally backward classes and extend reservation in admission in educational institutions.
The Education Ministry has started studying methods to implement reservation for transgenders in higher educational institutions, following discussions last month, the Economic Times reported.
The Ministry is likely to include transgender persons in the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) category. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) had recently sought NCBC’s advice on the issue of including transgenders in the list of OBCs, officials told the newspaper.
The education ministry implements reservations for socially and economically backward castes in central educational institutions as mandated by the MSJE – the nodal department on all SEBC issues.
The move comes four years after the landmark SC judgment in NALSA vs the Union of India case. The apex court directed the Centre and state governments to take steps to treat transgenders as socially and educationally backward classes of citizens and extend all kinds of reservations in cases of admission in educational institutions and for public appointments. However, the order remains to be implemented.
“It is the right of every human being to choose their gender,” the court said while granting legal recognition to transgender people as the ‘third gender’.
Following the SC judgment, the National Commission for Other Backward Classes (NCBC) recommended that all transgender persons from forward castes be given reservation under the existing 27 percent quota for OBC.
An initial draft of the Bill said, “Those transgender persons who by birth do not belong to Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) may be declared as Backward Class and be entitled to a reservation under the existing ceiling of OBC category.”
However, as per reports, the ministry decided to delete the provision following opposition from OBC groups who reportedly claimed that their share in the reservation may decline after inclusion of transgenders.
