'Transvestite' debuts in Economic Census

The gender 'transvestite' will make its debut along with religion in the Sixth Economic Census, a nationwide exercise conducted by the Union Ministry for Statistics and Programme Implementation, an official said.

"For the first time, transvestite has been included as a gender option other than male and female," Sunil Jain, deputy director at the ministry, told reporters here Tuesday.

He was addressing the media after attending a workshop for census officials at the Goa International Centre in Dona Paula on the outskirts of Panaji.

"Earlier, we had only two genders. Now we will list the third gender, transvestites, under the header of proprietary ownership," Jain said.

The Economic Census is the sixth such pan-India exercise conducted - the first was carried out in 1977 - to collect economic data and to tabulate a complete count of business establishments and units in the organised and the unorganised sectors.

Jain added that another salient feature was the inclusion of religion as another classification for the first time in the census.

"We will also list the proprietors' religion. Religion is a demographic feature and collecting religion-wise information is one of the directives of the Sarkaria Commission," Jain said.

The Sarkaria Commission was set up in 1983 to examine the relationship and balance of power between state and central governments and suggest changes within the framework of the constitution.

The Economic Census operation in Goa would begin from August and nearly 1,000 government employees would be involved in gathering data from all over the state.