A year after Parliament passed a bill on Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights), the Centre has launched a simplified certification process to provide identity cards and special homes to transgenders in every state.

The social justice and empowerment ministry is set to launch a national portal, which would equip transgenders to apply for an identity card to the district magistrate. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act has given transgenders the right to self-perceived identity. The national portal will help in initiating this pan-India exercise to identify transgenders, give identity cards, enumerate them and then roll out targeted social welfare programmes. The portal would enable the person to fill a form with details such as the name given at birth, name chosen and the gender. Once the district magistrate issues the certificate, the person would even be able to download the document from the portal.

The Centre also plans to open one home for transgenders in each state. Secretary (social justice and empowerment) R Subrahmanyam said: “We are initially planning to open one home in every state. State governments would be actively involved in the projects.” The first such transgender home would be inaugurated in Vadodara in Gujarat. The state governments have been asked to send detailed proposals of such homes which can provide lodging and boarding and even vocational training to transgenders.