UGC Ordered Universities to Include Transgender Column in Application Forms

In all the application forms of the universities under University Grants Commission (UGC), there now has to be a column for transgender community students. UGC has made this clear to all the universities by writing a letter and circulating it among them.

According to the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla, all the universities have been requested to include a column that would mention transgender category in all the application forms and academic testimonials along with any of the relevant documents processed by university affiliated colleges. He also mentioned in one of his reply’s that UGC has informed the universities to make sure that the column for transgender should come in place of the gender category and there are schemes that are planned to run to make it happen soon. The duty of the UGC is now to conduct such measures to ensure that all the universities in the nation follow the rules and provide a separate column for the community. This could bring confidence back to the neglected community of the society and safeguard the rights of people under Part III of the constitution.

Supreme Court had passed a judgment in 2014, declaring that hijras, eunuchs, apart from binary genders should be treated as ‘third gender’ in the country and their rights should be safeguarded under the laws made by Parliament and State Legislature in the Constitution. This initiative would surely give a positive sign to the community to bring themselves back to the mainstream society opening new gates of opportunities for them.

Important Points

• UGC has ordered all the universities to have column for transgender community students
• The transgender column should come in the gender category in the application form