THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Nearly two years after the state unveiled a transgender policy - first of its kind in the country - decks are finally cleared for the constitution of a Transgender Justice Board exclusively for the welfare of the section.
Sources in the Social Justice Department said the government order constituting the board and its members at the district and state level will be issued this week.
The state-level board will be chaired by the Social Justice Minister with the Secretary of Social Justice Department as the convener.
The members of the board will include the Secretaries of Home, Finance, Health, General Education, Law, Culture and Local Self-Government departments. The Director of Social Justice, Director of Public Instruction and an NGO representative will also be part of it.
“Importantly, the board will have in it five members from the transgender community at the state level and four at the district level so that the real issues facing them can be identified and prioritised,” Social Justice Minister K K Shailaja said.
The primary objective of the board is to monitor the implementation of the transgender policy. It will ensure convergence of the existing schemes across departments for a more targeted and focused approach. The board will ask departments to submit reports on the budget expenditure for transgender welfare and ensure adequate funds are allocated.
According to the Department officers, the budget announcement of `10 crore exclusively for transgender welfare will help implementing various welfare programmes.
The gender cell of the Social Justice Department, which will assist the Transgender Justice Board, will issue identity cards enabling transgender people to revise their gender in all legal documents including voter ID, passport and driving license.
“The district-level Transgender Justice Committee has been entrusted with the task of verifying the applications for I-cards. The screening process, which ensures the involvement of transgender representatives, will check any sort of misuse of the facility,” Social Justice Director T V Anupama said.