Goa Su-Raj Party focuses on transgenders' issues in manifesto

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Goa Su-Raj Party (GSRP) has taken up the issue of transgenders on its election manifesto, stating that poverty and neglect by the society was forcing them to beg and indulge in prostitution in the coastal state.
"The transgenders in Goa are forced to take up prostitution or begging as they are very poor and neglected citizens," Goa Su-Raj Party Secretary Savio Rodrigues told PTI today.
GSRP, a fourteen-year-old party has so far contested four assembly elections and will be contesting the Lok Sabha polls for the first time this year. The regional party has now decided to rejuvenate itself by including newer members and taking up the issues, which are ignored by other major political parties.

Rodrigues, a journalist-turned-politician, said that there are gangs of transgenders who are often seen begging in the cities like Margao in south Goa.
"Why can't we classify them under a special category and provide them decent livelihood? We can help them set up small business, like vegetable kiosks," he said.
Rodrigues said that it was difficult to know the exact number of transgenders in Goa as "many have been living in the closets."
The party has promised reservations in the government jobs and also in the schemes like educational subsidies for transgenders or transsexuals.