Gujarat government constitutes a Transgender Welfare Board (TWB)

The Gujarat government has formed a special board for the transgender community to provide social security to the community. As a state-run agency, the ‘Transgender Welfare Board (TWB)’ will have powers to introduce special schemes for the community. It will work for uplift and development of the transgender community. The new board will have the state social justice and empowerment minister as its chairman. It will have 16 other members, including two transgender-women representatives, two male transgenders, two from the eunuch community and two representatives of NGOs. The rest of the members will be government officials. The Supreme Court has recognized transgenders as a third gender in 2014 on a petition filed by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and had directed all states to form a TWB. The judgment also ruled that ‘third gender’ be included in the Other Backward Classes’ (OBCs) list, hence allowed them to avail education and employment reservation in accordance to this status.