The home ministry has asked all paramilitary forces to submit their opinion on hiring transgenders.

New Delhi:

The home ministry has asked all paramilitary forces to submit their opinion on the inclusion of the transgender category in an upcoming recruitment exam.

“There is long of confusion related to the matter, but we have sought comments from CAPF,” a senior functionary in the ministry said.

As per a letter, the home ministry has sought views on incorporating transgender as the third gender, along with males and females in Rules of CAPF (Assistant Commandant ) examination 2020.

“We have sent a reminder to forces also, so that a final view can be taken,” he said.

Meanwhile, NDTV has learnt that Central Armed Police Forces – Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force and Sashastra Seema Bal – are making a careful examination of the issue.

“Apart from medical/physical aspects, social acceptability, psychological and behavioural issues are also being examined,” a senior officer said.

The Gazetted Officers (GO) join these forces at the rank of Assistant Commandant and the entrance examination is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission.

According to the data placed by home ministry in the Parliament earlier this year, paramilitary forces are facing a shortage of 2,695 Gazetted Officers.

The combined shortage of subordinate officers and other ranks is said to be close to 1 lakh. The total sanctioned strength of these six forces is more than 10 lakh out of which only about 3 per cent are women.

The move aimed to diversify the forces comes four months after the Supreme Court finally ordered setting up a permanent commission for women officers.

As per a study conducted by the National Human Rights Commission, about 92 per cent of transgenders are deprived of the right to participate in any form of economic activity in the country.

The community consist of 4,90,000 people as per 2011 census.