Commendable decision by the Telangana Government for the Trans Community | Thejaswini Ambrose

The conservative society has always looked down on the transgender community even in this post-modern period, especially in India, However, a great move was initiated by the Telangana Government by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy for taking a milestone decision to recruit transgender persons as Traffic management volunteers who would be roped in to perform the duties to assist the home guards and monitor the congested areas in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and will be provided with a basic pay during the training period and then will be recruited. Chief Minister Reddy’s decision is applauded as it is the beginning of the Inclusive policy for the transgender community in Telangana State.

This decision came from the promised context named under Transgender welfare mentioned in page no 36 of the INC Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee Abhaya Hastham (The protecting hand) Manifesto which was released in November 2023 before the Telangana State Assembly elections. [1] During a review meeting on 13 September 2024, Chief Minister Reddy conveyed to work on the referred theme and an official statement has been released from the CMO’s office to collect the particulars of the transgender individuals who were willing to collaborate with the government [2] The motive of this drive has two objectives, firstly to help ease the traffic as Hyderabad is a busy metropolitan city and secondly as a social welfare program which helps achieve Social Justice. The TG Government will be working on the completion of this process rapidly through the officials and the community has cherished the decision of the Chief Minister and expressed gratitude to take up the training and are ready to work for the betterment of the city to manage the traffic. [3]

The above decision is one of the promises from the Telangana Congress Committee Manifesto, however when going through the other aspects of the manifesto it has also covered issues related to the different streams of unorganized labor classes like street vendors, Beedi (Tobacco) workers, Auto Drivers, and construction workers as such which promised to bring them under a umbrella of workers welfare board by which giving them a due identity and to their work.

Let the inclusiveness not only get limited with the above-mentioned categories but also help in understanding or uncovering the real forces that keep the human mind in the dark through the structure or the stratification on which every society or organization is built. Any change that happens by the law has its binding on the government irrespective of whichever party in power must perform it. These law-based arrangements must yield the desired results of change in terms of every discrimination that is ever present in the society be it in caste, class gender, or any other suffering communities. The first step to accepting this change is very crucial and significant. It is been learned that the Telangana Congress Manifesto 2023 was been drafted after consulting the people from different marginalized sections, civil societies, and Individuals to reflect their concerns and aspirations. And now the government has started taking law-based decisions which would hopefully end the inequity in all its forms shortly. As rightly stated by the English philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham “The Law of today must be shaped by the legislator of today by the needs of today” and “That the end of the legislator should be the happiness of the people”.

It is a very happy moment for the trans community that they have been approached by the government to work for their welfare in terms of Education, Vocational centers, and Jobs and provide them with skills and training to generate income and live a life of honor and dignity. Those very transgender individuals who were ill-treated and looked down on earning money on the roads the very same people will now be treated with respect and dignity on those same roads. Even though it’s a tiny step in progression it will surely lay a pathway for the new normal. The excluded community who were outcasted can now be treated as equals. This initiative will change people’s minds and set a model for other states as well as the world society. Hoping for many such inclusive initiatives in different sections to be taken by the Telangana Congress government in power in the coming years as promised.

(Author: Dr. Thejaswini Ambrose, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Telangana Mahila Viswavidyalayam(Women’s University) Telangana State)