BJP MP requests PM to enact legislation for eunuchs' welfare

BJP MP Balkrishna Shukla has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to concede demands of eunuchs which include enactment of a Eunuch Welfare Act and formation of a board or corporation for them.
Shukla also supported the demand for the enactment of a similar act and formation of such a board by the Gujarat government.
"There are about 18 to 25 lakhs eunuchs in the country whose condition is very poor and in the absence of any welfare act or formation of welfare board or corporation for them, they have to struggle on their own for their survival," he said.
In Gujarat, there are about 5,000 eunuchs in the three cities of Vadodara, Surat and Ahmedabad as per data provided by the Lakshya Trust, a Vadodara-based non-governmental organisation working for eunuchs in the state.

In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Shukla supported the demand of eunuchs for two per cent reservation in government jobs.
Their demands also include issuance of Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards and ration cards and provision of low-cost houses under the Indira Awaas Yojana, Shukla said.
Manvendra Sinh President of the Lakshya Trust and son of Raghuvirsinhji Gohil, then erstwhile ruler of the princely state of Rajpipla, was present at the press conference and demanded that eunuchs' names be listed under the 'third sex' category.
Gohil said that Union Minister of Social Justice Selja Kumari has promised to look into their demands and discuss these with heads of government departments, NGOs, experts and social activists, at a meeting convened in New Delhi on August 23.