Leh district initiates survey to count transgender population

By Reach Ladakh Correspondent Leh, Aug 17, 2024
ADC Leh, Ghulam Mohd convening a meeting regarding identification of numbers of transgender individuals in Leh district.
Leh :

ADC Leh, Ghulam Mohd convened a meeting regarding identification of numbers of transgender individuals in Leh district on August 17 at main Conference Hall.

A PIL was registered at High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh seeking a data on the number of transgender person in the district. A committee was constituted by Deputy Commissioner consisting of District Social Welfare Officer, SDMs of different blocks, Chief Medical Officer from Health Department, District Statistical and Evaluation Officer and representatives of District Legal Service Authority, Leh to evaluate the information at district level.

During the meeting, discussion took place on how to identify any transgender person in the community and how to get a collective data. SDM Nubra, suggested to involve stakeholder such as Nambardars and Asha workers collectively with different departments to do a survey at village level. After which the identified transgender will be provided with certification. Additionally, it was also discussed to ensure their safety and security in every aspect.

It was further discussed that there should be a clear definition for the term ‘Transgender’ so that it would be easy for the workers to identify the person or to help them come out. A time frame of one month was decided to come up with a survey format with a proper guideline and identify the numbers of transgender in Leh district.

The meeting was attended by all the members of the committee.