The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014 is a proposed Act of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

which seeks to end the discrimination faced by transgender people in India. The Bill was passed by the upper house

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

on 24 April 2015. It was introduced in the lower house

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

on 26 February 2016.

History

The Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha by

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; DMK) is a political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu where it is currently the ruling party having a comfortable majority without coalition support and the union territory of Puducherry where it is curre ...

(DMK) leader

Tiruchi Siva Tiruchi Siva is a member of the Parliament of India representing Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament. He is from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party, and was elected in 1996, 2002, 2007, 2014 and 2020. He is a speaker and ...

as a

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

. Some

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

(BJP) leaders initially tried to convince Siva to withdraw the bill citing anomalies and impractical clauses. Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment

Thawar Chand Gehlot Thawar Chand Gehlot (born 18 May 1948) is an Indian politician who is the current and 19th Governor of Karnataka, being the first person serving as the Governor of Karnataka from Madhya Pradesh. He assumed office of the Governor of Karnataka on ...

said that some clauses of the bill were impractical and too complicated. He promised future policies to benefit transgender people, while requesting the Bill to be withdrawn.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian politician and was the Union Minister of Minority Affairs. He had served as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from 2002 to 2022 and was Deputy Leader of the House in Rajya Sab ...

, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, and P. J. Kurien of

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

(INC) also made similar requests. However, Siva refused to withdraw the bill. He argued that 29 nations had laws regarding transgender rights. He pointed out that there were allegedly 450,000 transgender people in India, while the actual number may be around 20,00,000. They had the right to vote, but faced discrimination in their day-to-day life. The ruling-party members responded to the initial

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

with a negative. This forced Siva to call for a

division of the house In parliamentary procedure, a division of the assembly, division of the house, or simply division is a Voting methods (parliamentary), method of taking a vote that physically counts members voting. Historically, and often still today, members are ...

. Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley Arun Jaitley (28 December 1952 – 24 August 2019) was an Indian politician and attorney. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jaitley served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of the Government of India from 2014 to 2019. Jait ...

discouraged it. Jaitley said that Siva withdraw the bill and wait for the policies promised by Gehlot or the house should support the bill. The bill was

unanimous Unanimity is agreement by all people in a given situation. Groups may consider unanimous decisions as a sign of social, political or procedural agreement, solidarity, and unity. Unanimity may be assumed explicitly after a unanimous vote or impl ...

ly passed on 24 April 2015 in the Rajya Sabha, where the Opposition had the majority but also received support from the

treasury bench The Government frontbench in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, also known as the Treasury Bench, consists of the Cabinet and all other ministers. Parliamentary opposition to the Government frontbench is provided by the Official Opposition ...

. The move was welcomed by LGBT-rights activist Simran Shaikh and

Gopi Shankar Madurai Gopi Shankar Madurai, born 13 April 1991, is an Indian equal rights and Indigenous rights activist. Shankar was one of the youngest, and the first openly intersex and genderqueer statutory authority and one of the candidates to contest in 201 ...

. The Bill is considered historic as for being the first private member's bill to be passed by any house in 36 years and by Rajya Sabha in 45 years. Usually, the bills are withdrawn after a debate and the government's response. Until then, only 14 private member's bills had been passed since 1947. On 26 February 2016, the bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha for debate by

Biju Janata Dal The Biju Janata Dal (; BJD) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Odisha founded and led by Naveen Patnaik, the current Chief Minister of Odisha and the son of former Chief Minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik, after whom the party i ...

(BJD) leader

Baijayant Panda Baijayant "Jay" Panda () is an Indian politician. He is the national vice president and spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was a Member of Parliament in the 15th and 16th Lok Sabha from Kendrapara. He was also a Member of Par ...

. Panda argued that the bill would help extend constitutional rights and end the discrimination against transgender people, allowing them to live a life of dignity. BJP leader

Jagdambika Pal Jagdambika Pal is an Indian politician. He is a former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He was also a member of 15th Lok Sabha & 16th Lok Sabha and was a member of Indian National Congress, until he resigned on 7 March 2014. Political career He ...

also supported ending the discrimination against transgender people.

Summary

The Clauses 21 and 22 of Chapter V aim to

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

2% of seats in primary, secondary and higher education institutions funded by the government, and in government jobs. The Clause 24 for Chapter V mandates formation of special

employment exchange Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

s for transgender people. The Chapter VII details the formation of national and state-levels commission for transgender people. The Chapter VIII details the formation of special transgender rights courts. The Clause 11 of Chapter II specifies the right of a transgender child to a home and imposes conditions for

foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family mem ...

. The Chapter IX details the offenses and penalties. The maximum penalty for

hate speech Hate speech is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thoug ...

against transgender people in 1 year imprisonment with fine.

History

Summary

See also

References

Further reading