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

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok ...

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

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

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

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

on 26 February 2016.

History

The Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha by

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; ; DMK) is an Indian political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu, where it is currently the ruling party, and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry, where it is currently the main ...

(DMK) leader Tiruchi Siva 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 wh ...

. Some

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(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 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 He promised future policies to benefit transgender people, while requesting the Bill to be withdrawn.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 Sabh ...

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

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

(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 "by 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 respondin ...

with a negative. This forced Siva to call for a division of the house. 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 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 2016 ...

. 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 an Indian regional political party with significant influence in the state of Odisha. The party was established to uphold the legacy of former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik and to address the unique socio-economic ...

(BJD) leader Baijayant Panda. 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 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 v ...

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 exchanges 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 or treatment centre), 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 a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It 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 ...

against transgender people in 1 year imprisonment with fine.

History

Summary

See also

References

Further reading