Trans to be counted in census

Trans to be counted in census

Nepal’s national census will include a new category for transgender people when counting begins in May, The Kathmandu Post has reported.

Bikash Bista, director of the Central Bureau of Statistics in Kathmandu, said the next census would include a third gender category.

Two years ago, the Supreme Court in Nepal ordered the government to enact laws to guarantee the rights of transgender, gay, lesbian and bisexual people.

Bista said the court’s ruling prompted the new category, though Nepal remains a deeply conservative country.

“We will send supervisors to each household and get the figures of the household, its members and their gender. This is when we count the number of transgenders,” he said.

The move has been welcomed by the country’s activists.

Sunil Babu Panta, Nepal’s first openly gay parliamentarian, who runs the Blue Diamond Society pressure group, told the newspaper the country’s transgender community was delighted by the decision.

“This shows that the government has started to recognise them. I hope this will help to ensure their rights,” he said.

“But challenges remain for the community as they have often been forced to leave their villages and taken refuge in cities due to discrimination.”

Nepal plans to complete the census, which takes place every 10 years, in two months. About 28 million people live in the mountainous country.

India will also have a transgender category in its 2011 census, the domestic Press Trust of India news agency reported on Sunday, though no government spokesman was able to confirm the plan.

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One response to “Trans to be counted in census”

  1. I hope they have one field each for transgender females and transgender males rather than just a single third gender.. Better still, they should select male or female the same as everyone, and have question underneath to ask if they are transgender or not.