You may be born a male or a female, but you can choose to say you belong to the "other" category. There are 4,87,803 "others" in India, according to the Census 2011.
The 'other' category, which was given the code '3' during the Registrar General of India's Enumeration of Census 2011, does not say transgender. Code '1' was given for male and '2' for females. It was for the first time that there were three codes.
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Vijay Sampla, the minister of state for social justice and empowerment, pointed out that the Census of India does not collect any data specifically on transgenders. “Thus, the category of 'other' would not only include 'transgender' but also any person who desires to record sex under the category of 'other',” he said.
More interestingly, the minister said it was possible that some transgenders would have returned themselves as male or female, depending on their choice.
The topic came up in the course of the bill titled "Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016", introduced by the ministry in Lok Sabha in August last. The bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment, which submitted its report on July 21.
