[Reader-list] Eunuchs avoid polls

[Taha Mehmood]

Dear All

Does the protocol to identify indian citizens as Indian Citizens as
validated by the MNIC program take notice of the fact that
at least one million Indians are neither males nor females?

The performa of National population Register does not state 'third
sex' as an option.

Does this mean that ten hundred thousand eunuchs of India are not Indian
citizens?
What is the Government doing about it?

Regards

Taha




http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/803352/Eunuchs-avoid-polls-over-sex-dilemma

Eunuchs avoid polls over 'third sex' dilemma

13:24 AEST Sun Apr 19 2009

India's one million eunuchs face a unique dilemma every election
season — do they stand in the men's or women's queue at polling
stations or stay away altogether?

In the past, eunuchs — the term used for cross-dressers, pre- and
post-operative transsexuals known here as hijras — have largely
abstained from casting their ballots because they are unwilling to
identify themselves as male or female on voter registration forms.

While some eunuchs do vote by listing themselves as female, many are
pushing for an alternative or "third sex" option on identity cards,
after being granted the franchise in 1994.

Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a prominent eunuch activist and founder of NGO
Astitva, which works with sexual minorities, has never voted and
refuses to do so until there is a transgender option on identity
cards.

"It's the question of the identity of our whole community," she said.

"In spite of so many years of independence we haven't got our own
identity, our own place in the constitution of India."

Most eunuchs live on the outer fringes of society, ostracized and
excluded from decent job opportunities and reduced to begging at
traffic junctions in major cities or working in the sex trade.

Despite the stigma surrounding them, a campaign to recognise eunuchs
as a third sex has yielded some results.

They can now write "E" for eunuch on passports and on certain
government forms, but the quest for acceptance at the ballot box —
where they have to identify themselves as male or female — still
eludes them in culturally conservative India.

"There has been quite a bit of progress so structurally the only thing
that comes in is gender politics," said Ashok Row Kavi, chairman of
the Humsafar Trust, a male sexual health NGO.

Eunuchs who want to contest in elections for greater rights have come
up against similar problems, even though several have been elected to
public office as women.

Last month India's election commission denied three eunuchs in the
eastern state of Orissa permission to run as candidates unless they
identified themselves as male or female.

Pratap Sahu, president of the All-Orissa Eunuchs Association, which
fielded the candidates, said the unsuccessful bid had been a form of
protest against election authorities.

"We wanted to fight the election on the third sex issue. In India
nobody has fought for this," he said.

The relatively small number of eunuchs, compared to other minority
groups, means it is unlikely that any party deems them a priority vote
bank, said Anil Bairwal, national coordinator for the Association of
Democratic Reforms.

"Whether it will be taken up or not — as far as our political parties
are concerned, the only language they understand is the language of
numbers," he said.

Month-long general elections in the world's largest democracy began on
Thursday, with the last of five phases taking place on May 13. Results
are expected May 16.