‘The government never publicised it’

Kushie Parghi, from Mumbai, received her ID with the help of Humsafar Trust; (right) Nandini Sabban, 23, sent the application in October last year with five others. Seven days later, she received her card

After she came out as transgender in August 2021, Nandini Sabban, a former field mobiliser with the Humsafar Trust, quickly got down to applying for an identity card. It was a priority task on her agenda. The certificate, says Sabban, would open doors to education, social welfare schemes, health, employment, bank accounts and housing.

In 2020, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment set up the National Portal for Transgenders, which allows trans persons to get the Transgender Certificate and Identity Card as per their self-perceived identity. According to the rules, any transgender person can apply for these to the District Collector in whose jurisdiction s/he has been residing for at least one year. "On October 20, 2021, I sent the application with five others. Seven days later, we had our cards," says Sabban. While the 23-year-old had it fairly smooth, not everybody in the community can attest to the same.

It's the reason why Sabban, the Humsafar Trust and its targeted intervention team, Project Aarambh, are now helping members of the community navigate the process. They have managed to send 33 applications of which 10 have been cleared for IDs. "Many get rejected and the reasons are varied, ranging from incorrect address to missing documents. In our case, the applications got rejected because we used the e-challan instead of an affidavit. In the initial months, e-challan was accepted, but not anymore," observes Sabban. The law states that this ID card will be the basis for updating a trans person's name, photograph and gender across all documents including Aadhar card, the driver's licence, the Pan card, passport and birth certificate. No additional gazette notification or proof will be required. Despite being an important document, convincing community members to apply for one has been a challenge for the team. "They are not interested [in applying for the ID] because they don't know its value. The problem is also that the government has hardly publicised this initiative, which is why nobody is taking it seriously. The certificate is now a mandatory document to avail the welfare measures being provided under the new SMILE scheme," she says. SMILE (Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise) is a national-level umbrella scheme formulated by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. It includes two sub-schemes: Comprehensive Rehabilitation for Welfare of Transgender Persons and Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of begging. This scheme will focus on rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, counselling, education, skill development with the support of state governments, local bodies and NGOs.

Raj Kanaujiya

According to recent reports, Thane district has the highest number of transgender voters (742) out of the 3,520 registered across Maharashtra. Sabban doesn't think much of the statistic, though. "Ultimately, all trans people have to apply for the certificate and identity card because the voter's card alone is not sufficient [as identification to avail welfare schemes]."

Raj Kanaujiya is the recruitment officer of the TRANScend project by the Humsafar Trust and founder of the Sahyog All India Transmen Sanghatana, which works towards the empowerment of transmen across India. During their outreach programmes, Kanaujiya learnt that some members from the transgender community have been waiting for a year to get an ID card. "I applied for it myself in order to identify the roadblocks. It turned out that there were glitches in the social justice department system because officials were unaware of what is listed in the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019. For instance, some officials were of the opinion that sex reassignment surgery was necessary to apply for the gender certificate." The law states that after undergoing "medical intervention towards a gender affirming procedure, either as a male or female, you may apply with the same DM (District Magistrate) to update it to a binary gender marker as either ‘male' or ‘female' by submitting the form along with a certificate from the Medical Superintendent of the medical institution in which you have undergone the said medical intervention." Medical intervention, in this case, is not restricted to surgery alone, he points out. It can include counselling, hormonal therapy, or even a psychiatrist's letter of support stating the same may technically be sufficient. "We have been holding meetings with the DM and with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to iron out the issues," says Kanaujiya, who is also the secretary of the LGBT+ Cell of Maharashtra of the National Congress.

One of the misconceptions that Sabban and Kanaujiya are trying to dispel is that the ID card is only for the hijra population. "This [ID card] is also for transmen, transwomen and non-binary people. Now that the government is doing its bit, I feel we, as a community, need to step up and make the most of the opportunity," says Sabban.