The Bihar government has run into a fresh controversy after the enumeration of members of ‘third gender’ as a separate caste. This comes as part of the government’s move to keep headcount of social groups in the state.
According to reports, castes in Bihar will now be identified in the form of numbers/codes. Each caste has been given a numerical code for use during the second phase of caste-based headcount which will commence from April 15 and will go on till May 15.
The sub-categories of Brahmin castes including Maithil, Kanyakubj and others have been merged into a single social entity, i.e., the Brahmins, which will have caste code as 126. No separate enumeration of its sub-categories will be done.
In a similar way, the caste code of the Rajput is 169, Bhumihar (142), Kayastha (21) and for members of ‘third gender’ is 22. A total 215 caste codes have been allotted so far and the ‘third gender’ has also been considered as caste with the allotment of a separate caste code.
Calling the allotment of caste code to ‘third gender’ as a ‘criminal act,’ Reshma Prasad, founder secretary of Dostanasafar, a Bihar-based NGO said as per PTI, “How can gender identity of a human being, become his/her caste? Can ‘male’ or ‘female’ be considered as caste…similarly, how can ‘transgender’ be considered as caste ? People belonging to transgender community can be of any caste.”
The activist further said that the move is against the ‘Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules’ that talk about the prevention of non-discrimination of transgender persons. “The social welfare department of the state government must intervene into the matter so that gender identity of a person should not be considered as caste. I will definitely write to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in this regard and seek his immediate intervention into the matter…” said Prasad.
Speaking about the same, Grace Banu, a known trans person rights activist and a software engineer from Thoothukudi (Tamil Nadu) told, “The move of the Bihar government is simply ‘a social injustice’ with people belonging to transgender community. How ‘transgender’, which is a gender identity, can be considered as caste ?…there are so many castes in transgender community. If the state government (Bihar government) does not know how to count the transgender people, we are here to help them.”
In response, Bihar Social Welfare Minister, Madan Sahni said, “If they (transpeople) have any issues with the ongoing exercise of caste-based headcount, including codes allotted to different castes, they must approach the department concerned and discuss with senior officials. The Grand alliance government in Bihar has already taken several welfare measures for improving the socio-economic condition of the people belonging to transgender community”.
According to the 2011 Census, the total population of transgender persons in Bihar stands at 40,827. The enumeration exercise, which started from January 7, is expected to be completed by May, 2023. The state government is said to spend ₹500 crore for the exercise.
(With inputs from PTI)
