In a milestone initiative, the Border Security Force (BSF), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) have come out in support of the Union Home Ministry’s appeal for the inclusion of the third gender and said that they were ready to recruit transgenders in officer cadres for their contingents.
On April 15, 2014 judgement of the Supreme Court declaring transgender people as the Third Gender. Following this, Parliament passed The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act in 2019. This law prohibits discrimination of the third gender in any form and provides a redressal mechanism for their grievances. Following this, the Ministry of Human Affairs (MHA) had appealed to the paramilitary forces to send in their comments about accomodating them in the forces.
This was followed by the statements of the above forces, affirming that they are ready to make necessary changes in the force and suggested amendments to recruitment rules for helping transgender people to join the force at Assistant Commandant-level. The ITBP and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Centre are expected to respond soon.
The annual examination for recruiting ACs, who are Grade A officers, for this year, is scheduled to be held in December and the comments of these forces will be sent to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which will then incorporate transgender people as the third gender in the application forms.