Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Monday said while the Government was getting ready with the Transgenders Bill to provide them with their own rights, he failed to understand why the community wears “only sarees”.
“They are facing a lot of problems and discrimination in terms of education and employment but when they are neither man or woman...why should they wear sarees? I am not going to force them, I only told them about my feeling...if they want to wear sarees they have the freedom,” he said, at a press conference, after he reviewed the activities of the disabled welfare in Andhra Pradesh.
Mr. Athawale, known for his controversial remarks, said he gave these “suggestions” when he met a delegation of transgenders while attending a seminar held at the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) here.
He said that the Transgenders Bill has been scrutinised by the Parliament Standing Committee and would be presented in the House during this session only.
“Since they are being denied admission into educational institutions, it will be better if they can have their own schools and colleges as is being provided for the SC/STs” and the Government could play a role on this issue, he said. There were an estimated six lakh transgenders in the country.
Continuing on this recent demand for quota for the SC/STs in the Indian cricket team, the Union Minister once again reiterated it and said he would take up the issue with Union Minister for Sports Vijay Goel to provide reservation for “our talented SC/ST boys and girls” in all sports.
“Vinod Kambli was the last person from our community to have represented the country in cricket, no one after that,” he pointed out and said he had raised the issue in the NDA meetings too.
Mr. Athawale also criticised the Indian team for its inconsistency as they had lost badly to Pakistan in the recent Champions Trophy but beat Sri Lanka by a big margin in the first test. “It raised doubts if there was any fixing,” he claimed.
The NDA Government has also decided to hike the quota for disabled from 3% to 4% in education and 5% in jobs. It was also determined to thwart the designs of Pakistan and China to destablise the country. “We do not desire any war with them but our armed forces are prepared to face any eventuality,” he added.