NHRC Urges Government to Include Separate Categories for Intersex, Transmen and Transwomen in Census 2027
मुख्य बातें
- •NHRC recommends adding ‘Intersex’, ‘Transmen’, and ‘Transwomen’ as separate categories in Census 2027 and other national data systems.
- •Census recorded 487,803 people under ‘Other’, but did not specifically capture transgender or intersex identities.
- •NHRC warns that the 2026 Amendment Act’s medicalized definition of transgender persons may undermine self-identity and rights.
- •Advisory calls for sensitisation of enumerators, legal reforms in birth registration, succession, and juvenile justice laws, and improved welfare access for elderly transgender persons.
New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a fresh advisory urging the central government to include separate census categories for ‘Intersex’, ‘Transmen’, and ‘Transwomen’ in the upcoming Census 2027. The Commission’s recommendation comes in a detailed advisory on transgender welfare released last week, which also calls for re-examining recent legal changes to the definition of transgender persons—changes currently under challenge in the Supreme Court.
The advisory highlights that the 2011 Census, while introducing an ‘Other’ category for the first time, did not collect specific data on transgender identities. As a result, the 487,803 individuals recorded under ‘Other’ could include transgender persons, intersex individuals, or others who chose not to identify strictly as male or female. The NHRC emphasizes that this lack of granularity limits accurate representation and policy planning for these communities.
