Karnataka Cabinet Clears State Policy for Transgenders 2017

Bengaluru: Karnataka cabinet cleared the State Policy for Transgenders, 2017 on Thursday. The policy is aimed at bringing the community into the mainstream of the society and providing its members with a secured life.

The policy had been drafted in compliance with a Supreme Court order, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra told reporters here in Bengaluru after a cabinet meeting.

 The different categories of transgenders mentioned in the policy include, jogappa, jijra, female to male, male to female, inter-sex, kothis, jogtas, shivashakti and aravanis.

The policy aims to create awareness about the transgender community in all the educational institutions of the state, reach out to the family members through anganwadi workers to sensitise them about trans-children, bring into place a monitoring committee or cell at the educational institutions to address the issues of discrimination, sexual abuse and violence against transgenders.

It also moots defining the indicators for a friendly policy, which goes beyond non-discrimination, and to include the transgender community in the ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’, Right to Education and similar efforts to promote literacy.