Public Service Commission applications to have transgender columns

Thiruvananthapuram: The  PSC will soon introduce  a column for transgenders in its application forms, according to sources there.   The PSC has in principle decided to revise the forms with three columns for gender and is  awaiting the government’s decision on reservation for transgenders.   “The PSC will write  to the social justice department as the concurrence of the state government is needed. It cannot stop at the revision of application forms. There should be vacancies. The government should decide on the percentage of vacancies to be kept aside for transgender people,” said a PSC  official.

Syama S. Prabha of Queerhythm and Sreemayi of Oasis Cultural Society, transwomen who have been fighting for the cause of gender minorities, said  that whenever they have met the government representatives, they had spoken about reservations in the public sector.   “Many TG persons are forced to beg or do sex work. So we have been pushing for the government to implement the NALSA judgment.  The PSC’s decision is  welcome,” Syama said.   In a  landmark decision accepting transgender persons’ rights by Supreme Court in 2014, popularly referred to as the NALSA judgment, the centre and state governments were directed to extend reservation for socially and educationally backward classes to TG persons.

But as per an earlier judgment of the Supreme Court, reservation for special categories cannot exceed 50 percent. The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014, passed by the Rajya Sabha proposes two percent reservation for transgender persons in public sector jobs. The state government will consider  all these aspects before it arrives at a reservation percentage.