New Delhi: The Bihar government has issued an order directing officials/enumerators to let members of the transgender community choose their caste in the ongoing caste census in the state.
This comes after a controversy over “transgender” being categorised as a caste in the census questionnaire. Transgender activist Reshma Prasad had also filed a PIL in the Patna High Court in this regard.
As part of the survey, castes have been categorised into 214 different groups, called caste codes. In the census, the state government had earlier allocated a caste code — ’22’ — to “kinnars/kothi/hijra/transgender”.
The government has issued fresh guidelines regarding question numbers 5 and 8 in the census, which relate to identifying one’s gender and caste respectively. The order is dated 25 April 2023 but has come to light now.
The government order is undersigned by Rajneesh Kumar, deputy secretary of the General Administration Department — the nodal body for caste-based enumeration. It is addressed to all the district magistrates.
The government order reads that under question 5 if someone identifies themselves as ‘others’, they should be allowed to choose their caste under question number 8.
The first phase of the caste census happened in January this year in the Nitish Kumar-led state while its second phase started on 15 April.
‘A good step’
On 18 April, 32-year-old transgender activist Prasad filed a petition objecting to transgender persons being categorised as a “caste” in the census, terming it a violation of their fundamental rights under the Constitution.
Welcoming the government’s decision, Prasad told ThePrint, “It’s a good step by the government. I believe after the PIL government changed its decision. But we had made two demands in the PIL, of which only one has been fulfilled so far.”
“We have also demanded separate reservation for the transgender community, but no decision has been taken on this,” said Prasad, who is also a member of the National Council for Transgender Persons, a statutory body under the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Prasad said that they had for a long time been demanding separate reservation for transgenders. “Why are we being counted under OBC? We should be given separate reservations,” she said.
The Patna High Court is yet to hear the PIL.
“An administrative order has been issued in this regard. Till now the high court has not given any instructions,” Prasad’s lawyer Vivek Raj told ThePrint.
According to the last population census in 2011, there were 40,000 transgender people in Bihar.
Prasad’s petition filed before the HC states: “Categorising transgenders (sic) as a caste, is unconstitutional and arbitrary as it is inconsistent with Articles 14, 15, 16, 19 (1)(a) and 21 as well as the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in National Legal Services Authority Vs Union of India and Others (2014) 5 SCC 438 and as such arbitrary and unconstitutional.”
(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)
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