Transgender will no more be excluded from the Indian society. After categorising transgender into the third gender by the Supreme Court, Odisha became the first Indian state to give social welfare benefit to the transgender.
To survive and live a honourable life rather than asking for money on the roads, the transgender community will be given the social status of below poverty line under which they will be allowed to avail all the government schemes and facilities. This includes government schemes that provide free housing, 100 days of paid work annually, pensions and loans to start up their own businesses. They would also be entitled 5 kg of food grains every month under India’s National Food Security Act.
At having announced this, Meera Parida, chairperson of All ODISHA Third Gender Welfare Trust said “We are thankful to the government of ODISHA that at least they started recognising the transgender”.
After this remarkable step by the government of ODISHA, almost 40,000 transgenders from the state will now not face social discrimination, sexual and verbal abuse and begging. They would be able to avail the basic needs of life like employment and education.
