The Union government’s high-level committee to address issues faced by the queer community started working on its mandate in May this year, a month after it was formed, with stakeholder consultations beginning in July this year, a reply by the Social Justice Ministry in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday (August 6, 2024) revealed.
The progress of this committee’s work was revealed by the Minister of State (MoS) for Social Justice B.L. Verma, who was responding to a question from Congress MPs K. Sudhakaran, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, and Amar Singh.
However, the government did not answer the first question asked by the Opposition MPs in its written reply. The MPs had asked how many members of the LGBTQIA+ community were represented in the committee formed to address issues faced by them, before asking about the progress it had made.
In its reply, the MoS said the committee had been formed through a gazette notification on April 16, and reproduced its mandate.
Further, the government said in its reply that the committee had held its first meeting on May 21, while the country was in the middle of Lok Sabha election. This meeting was followed up with a sub-committee meeting on May 31, after which one round of stakeholder consultations was held on July 25.
The six-member committee consists of Secretaries and is headed by the Cabinet Secretary. Other members of the panel include Secretaries of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Women and Child Development, and the Ministry of Health and Family Development.
The committee’s mandate allowed it to “co-opt experts and other officers if deemed necessary” but the reply of the Social Justice Ministry did not mention of any such experts or officers.
In its reply, the government said: “Members representing the entire spectrum of LGBTQI [sic], experts with domain knowledge and experience regarding queer community, the Central ministries/departments and States/UTs participated (in stakeholder consultation of July 25) and provided their inputs/suggestions.”
While forming the committee, the government had said it was meant to suggest measures to ensure the queer community did not encounter any discrimination in accessing goods and services, social welfare schemes, or face threat of violence, among others.
In October 2023, while hearing the petition on same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court had directed that a panel be set up to address the challenges faced by the community in accordance with the statement made by the Centre in the court.
Published - August 06, 2024 09:10 pm IST
