The Padma Awards for 2021 was conferred by President of India on November 09 2021. The 119 Padma Awards conferred this year comprised of 7 Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan and 102 Padma Shri Awards. 29 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI, 16 Posthumous awardees and 1 transgender awardee.
The Padma Award to a transgender person, Manjamma Jogati, Folk Dancer of Jogamma heritage – 1st transwoman President of Karnataka Janapada Academy reflects the sincere efforts of Government of India for welfare of transgender community.
Transgender people have been part of the Indian society for several centuries. The Government of India has taken various actions to ensure welfare of Transgender community. The Government of India is working on an umbrella scheme to address issues of access to health, education, welfare, skill upgradation, shelter and economic support and livelihood for the transgender community.
Third gender is now an official category reflected in various government applications and platforms. In 2005, the third gender option was included in the Indian passport, a move in which India was well ahead of several Western countries. In 2005, however, the third option was ‘E’ symbolising eunuch, but following the 2014 ruling of the apex court, in March 2015, those filling the online passport application form had the option of choosing ‘transgender’ apart from ‘male’ or ‘female’ in the gender category. In August 2013, AADHAAR, India’s Unique Identification Service recognized transgender as a separate category under the head of gender, and granted 1,600 transgender persons unique identification cards. Also, The Reserve Bank of India in April 2015 had directed banks to include a ‘third gender’ option in all their forms and applications. In 2016, the Indian Railways and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) added ‘transgender/third gender’ to the gender category along with the other categories. Most recently, the official COVID-19 vaccine portal, CoWIN, has included three gender categories: male, female and others.
