"Including Transgenders under OBC quota is a big insult"

Shivraj Singh Chouhan along with his cabinet laid out a decision to include Transgenders under the 14% of OBC quota.

By sanya raghwa 14 Apr 2023

New Update

Transgenders in OBC quota in Madhya Pradesh

Transgenders are to acquire 14% of the reservation seats under the OBC quota.

The chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan along with his cabinet laid out a decision to include Transgender under 14% of the OBC quota.

WHY WAS THIS DECISION TAKEN?

This decision came out on Tuesday when the cabinet of Shivraj Singh Chohan decided that transgenders will be treated equally to other committees and will be included under the OBC list.

After the cabinet meeting, the minister for medical education informed the reporters that the Supreme court has recognized Transgender as a third gender. Vishwas Sarang (minister for medical education) further added that SC has decided to provide the community with a fair percentage of reservation seats in the educational sector.

With the above decision, the Transgenders can now apply for 14% of the OBC quota for jobs and admission in educational sectors in MP.

The BJP-led state has around 93 castes and communities in the OBC list which now will turn into 94. MP has about 30,000 transgenders in the state.

Transgender in OBC quota: What are the contradictions?

On the contrary, OBC Mahasabha core committee member Dharmendra Kushwaha told TOI that-

"this decision of Shivraj Singh Chouhan is a big insult to the economically and socially backward classes. He further says “We understand that the constitution has recognized to give all the citizens equal rights irrespective of their community. He adds, “ But there is no relationship between gender and caste. The reservation is only based on the caste of a person then how can we attach gender to it?”

In MP, 50% of the general category holds a position in employment. The transgender population of MP is 51.5%, making it a majority in the state. Only 16% of the population are Scheduled Caste and 20% are Scheduled Tribes. This precisely shows that the employment and educational opportunities for the OBC are very unlikely.

Despite this unequal distribution, the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh state has taken a decision to include Transgenders in the OBC list (which already is very low in percentage)

He also says, “We are not into gender discrimination, but backward classes are being targeted by the anti-OBC BJP government. The BJP will face the consequences of this insult in the assembly elections”, he warned.

Dharmendra Kushwaha expresses his dismay towards this decision of the cabinet. He believes that this decision could target the community as well as the socially backward classes. Including transgender under the OBC list conveys the message that all transgenders are socially and economically backward.

He believes that despite OBC being the majority they are the ones getting a very less percentage of reservations in the state. He said, “If the government wants to provide reservation to the community then they should give it separately and not include it in our small portion”.

OBC quota is only meant for the reservation of individuals based on their caste. There is clearly no sense to include gender in the caste system as both “gender” and “caste” are different terms.