Census signals hope for the third gender

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Hope and happiness — that is what the new government order has brought to those belonging to the alternate sex in the country. In the application form of Census 2011, a box marked “others” has been included for the alternate sex under the gender category so as to get an exact idea of the number of people belonging to the community.

Kalki Subramaniun, a transgender activist, thinks that the inclusion of the gender variant people in the Census is a historical step. “Based on the census results, welfare schemes both by the state and the central government will be implemented in the future and would give eunuchs the due that they were long waiting for. Reservations in jobs is the biggest possibility. The Planning Commission has already included transgender people’s welfare in its approach paper and recommendations. I am very positive about this move,” says Subramanium.
Laxmi, a eunuch, who earns her living by dancing at social functions, says that this move would help the government in planning for the community. “I’ve always read and heard that the government wants to do something for us. But nothing materialised till now. I hope this augurs well,” she says.
Her friend, Kamala, is however not pleased. She thinks a word better than ‘others’ should have been used by the government and says, “Terms like ‘alternate sex’ or ‘third gender’ would have been much better.”