Meet Tiruchi Siva, the MP behind the transgender rights bill

‘It is a great privilege that after 1970 this is the first private bill that has been passed by Parliament. The bill was supported across party lines and I am very happy with the result,’ says DMK MP Tiruchi Siva whose private member bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha, the first in 46 years.

The Rajya Sabha on April 24 passed the ‘Rights of Transgender Persons bill-2014’. This bill was moved by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Tiruchi Siva.

The Rajya Sabha created history by passing this bill, as this is the first private member bill passed by the House since 1970.

The bill provides for looking after the welfare of transgender persons right from childhood to old age. It gives them rights that all citizens enjoy.

Speaking to Rediff.com, Siva said that he had been working on the bill for a little over six months.

On the reasons for this unique bill, he said, “I belong to the DMK which always works like a social organisation. Our party works for the downtrodden, the helpless and the suppressed. When our leader Kalaignar M Karunanidhi was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu he had set up a welfare board for transgender persons. So I thought why not have similar provisions for the entire country.”

He further elaborated that the Supreme Court had said in 2014 that many countries in the world had laws supporting the transgender community.

He added that earlier he had moved a private member bill to make all languages in the eighth schedule national languages but that bill had failed.

He concluded with, “It is a great privilege that after 1970 this is the first private bill that has been passed by Parliament. The bill was supported across party lines and I am very happy with the result.”