Law ministry blocks labour ministry’s move to recognise transgender

Giving a wrong message to the Indian society which is primarily comprised of a large number of conservative people having no progressive opinion on the serious subjects of the transgender and the gender rights, the law ministry, which is presently handled by the BJP led NDA government, has blocked the labour ministry’s new law framework, which has provisions prohibiting discrimination against the transgender people in the payment of wages, by citing that the 1897 General Clause Act defines the transgender as a person.

As the draft Labour Code on Wages Bill has received strong resistance from the law ministry when it has been introduced in the parliament, the concerned has removed the controversial clause related to the transgender community from the law, which aims to do away with the condemnable practice of discrimination in the wage distribution.

Several people have come forward to express their reservation in the controversial move of the central government. Earlier, in 2014, through a historic verdict, the Supreme Court of India had recognised the transgender community as the third gender and had directed the governments –the central government and state governments- to give this marginalised community equal opportunities in the vital segments of education and employment. It seems that the new move of the central government particularly the law ministry is likely to go against the SC’s directives on the sensitive subject of the transgender rights.

Vignesh

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