BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Khadi and Village Industries Board (OKVIB) has urged Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), New Delhi to include transgenders under the social category and announce subsidy for them under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP).
In a letter to the KVIC chairman, OKVIB president Tejeswar Parida stated that though along with male and female, transgender has been included in the gender category of the online application form of PMEGP, the scheme is silent on the rate of subsidy (margin money) applicable to the transgender applicants.
The State has initiated several measures for the uplift of transgenders. Odisha is in fact, the first State to include them under BPL category and announce welfare schemes for their empowerment, he said besides mentioning that KVIB has started a campaign on mission mode to promote village industries, entrepreneurship, self employment and livelihood generation for the third gender.
“We have also roped in a State-level community-based organisation SAKHA and All Odisha Third Gender Welfare Trust to support us in educating and sensitising the interested transgenders. But surprisingly the community is not included under the social category section of the PMEGP online application,” Parida pointed out.
Requesting the Commission for their inclusion in social category, the OKVIB President demanded announcement of 35 per cent subsidy for rural area applicants and 25 per cent for urban area as equivalent to others under special categories including SC, ST, OBC, Minorities, Women, Ex-Servicemen and Differently-abled. Meanwhile, a team of transgender community leaders has been formed at a recently held workshop to coordinate with OKVIB and it has been decided that district level workshops will be conducted to sensitise them.