New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI) The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on Tuesday said it is formulating a scheme for setting up shelter homes for destitute and needy transgender persons.

In a written response in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment A Narayanswamy said these pilot shelter homes are in Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.

"Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is formulating a scheme for the welfare of the transgender persons wherein setting up of shelter homes for destitute and needy transgender persons is included as one of the components," he said.

"The main aim of these shelter homes is to provide safe and secure shelter to transgender persons in need. These shelter homes would provide basic amenities like food, medical care, recreational facilities and also conduct capacity-building/skill development programmes for transgender persons," he said.

Responding to another question, he said in order to support those transgender persons who lost their livelihoods during the pandemic times, financial assistance of Rs.1,500 was provided through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

"Whereas 6,940 persons were supported in 2020, 5,938 persons were supported in 2021. This initiative is only to support those who have completely lost their livelihoods, and not to every transgender person," he said.

The ministry has launched National Portal for Transgender Persons (NPTP) on 25th November 2020 through which any transgender applicant can obtain a Certificate of Identity and Identity Card without any physical interface with the office of issue.

"The transgender applicant can apply online for the Certificate of Identity from anywhere in the country and application automatically goes to the inbox of the competent authority of issue.

On issuance of the certificate, it can be downloaded by the applicant directly. So far, certificates of identity and ID cards have been issued to 1,804 transgender applicants," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)