Study on Human Rights of Transgender as a Third Gender

This study was published in February 2017 by the Kerala Development Society (KDS), a policy and development research organisation based in New Delhi. Carried out in collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission, government of India, the study examines the difficulties faced by the transgender community in the country. Transgender persons, it notes, are regularly subjected to discrimination and isolation, and denied access to accommodation as well as jobs. The study evaluates the provisions made for transgender persons under various government schemes for education, health, employment, food, pension and more, and discusses their accessibility. It includes the results of a survey of 900 transgender persons – 450 from Mathura and Bijnor districts of Uttar Pradesh, and the rest from East Delhi and Shahdara tehsil in North East Delhi. Based on this, it presents data on the religion, caste, education, finances and living conditions of transgender persons in the two states. The study aims to provide recommendations to protect and promote the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of transgender persons. The 135-page publication is divided into six chapters: Introduction (Chapter 1); Socio-Economic Profile of the Transgender People (Chapter 2); Discriminations and Human Right Violations and Coping Mechanism (Chapter 3); Analysis of Policies and Welfare Schemes for Transgender in India (Chapter 4); Analysis of Laws and Policies for Transgender in Select Foreign Countries (Chapter 5); and Human Rights of Transgender People: Recommendations (Chapter 6).