The demand for the working of the transgenders in the Army and Paramilitary Force continues
Will the transgender be able to 'protect' and 'serve' the country while working in the Army and Paramilitary Force?
JULY 04 (WTN) - You must have known about a warrior of the war of the Mahabharata Shikhandi. Due to Shikhandi, Bhishma assassination was possible in the Mahabharata. Actually, Shikhandi was the third gender, and according to the rules of the Mahabharata War, if the third gender was before the war, it was forbidden to bear the arms. After the Mahabharata period, you must have heard the stories of the third gender joining the war.
If we talk about today's modern times, so the appointment of the transgenders in the army and Paramilitary Force of many countries has started. As far as India is concerned, now the demand for the appointment of the transgenders in the Army and Paramilitary Force has also started in India. In this context, the Ministry of Home Affairs has talked about including transgenders as the third gender in the examination of Assistant Commandant and an opinion has been sought from the security forces.
Actually, the recruitment of the transgenders in the Army, Paramilitary Force, or police has not been easy. Controversy and debate continue in many countries, including India, whether the transgenders should get the right to enroll in the Army, Paramilitary Force, or police?
The Netherlands became the first country in modern times to recruit the third gender in the military. In the Netherlands, there has been a rule to recruit the third gender into the military since 1974. According to the information, till April of 2019, there were 19 countries like Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, and Sweden, where the transgenders were allowed to be recruited in the Army.
But in these countries, transgenders in the Army are being recruited in a limited way for only a few departments. Talk about America, in 2016, the Obama Government made a policy to recruit third gender people into the military. But this policy was stopped as soon as Donald Trump became the president of the USA. However, even with considerable restrictions, a total of 8,980 transgender Americans are still in the US Army.
Whether to appoint a third gender or transgender in the Army? There has been much controversy on this subject. Opponents argue that being transgender is a kind of mental illness. And for this reason, transgenders are not fit for the enlistment in the military. Actually, it has been seen that the cases of depression and suicide are seen more in the transgenders. At the same time, many people also take estrogen and testosterone therapy to get gender change. And for this reason, many problems and diseases arise in their body.
As far as India is concerned, there are about 4,90,000 transgenders in India according to the 2011 census. For your information, let's know that the Parliament passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill in the year 2019, under which all efforts are being made to bring the transgender community into the mainstream. This is the reason that the demand for the recruitment of transgenders in the Paramilitary Force is starting to arise.
But the situation in other countries of the world cannot be compared to the situation in India. In countries where transgender has been allowed to join the army, the situation on the border of any country except Israel is not as sensitive as India. Appointments of Army and Paramilitary Forces in India are very important and sensitive due to neighbouring countries like Pakistan and expansionist China. At the same time, due to the problem of Naxalites within the country, a lot of thought needs to be done before the recruitment of the transgenders in the Paramilitary Force.
