HYDERABAD: An increasing number of transpersons are applying for government pension schemes at the Hyderabad and Rangareddy district collectorates even as their applications have just been piling up at the public grievance cell.
This is on account of lack of any provision to grant pensions on the basis of the community to which they belong. The only way forward, officials say, is for the government to issue an order making them eligible for government benefits like pensions.
Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts have nearly 3.74 lakh eligible beneficiaries of the Asara pension scheme, and the State government has decided to double the amount given to beneficiaries and decrease the age limit from 64 to 57 years.
According to district revenue officials, “a group of transgender-community members is approaching the collectorate officials and submitting applications for the pension scheme of the State government. We are accepting the applications from the transpersons, but there is no provision in the government rules to sanction pension to them.”
“For whatever it’s worth, we are keeping the applications,” a revenue official said, adding that “the government should take a decision soon.
Speaking to Express, transgender activist M Chandramukhi, said she recalled the NALSA judgment delivered by the Supreme Court in 2014, which laid down that equal opportunities should be provided to transpersons in education, employment, and in all other spheres of life.” She alleged the Telangana government failed to implement the Supreme Court’s judgment on transgenders’ rights.