10Nov:: Consultation on UID and transgenders: Potential and Concerns

Dear friends,

Aneka and Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum invite you for a Consultation UID and Transgenders: Potential and Concerns 

On Thursday, 10th November 2011,

at Vidya Deep College, 128/1, Ulsoor Road, Bangalore 42 (near Shilton Suites) 
between 4:00 - 6:30 PM

The ambitious Unique Identification number (UID) exercise that is now underway in the country has provoked strong responses from various sides. While some hail it as an enabler; a tool that can help the state deliver welfare measures and rights; others are sharply critical of the concept and process.

 

Many of these concerns and issues have been debated on various fora, one issue that has not received the kind of attention it deserves is that of transgenders and the UID.

 

The UID allows people to register themselves as transgenders (along with Male and Female).  In this respect the UID is indeed unique. (The other official document that has space for transgenders is the Election Identity Card that has a column called  "others" under sex.)

 

Some organisations have taken this provision in the UID as a positive step and have started to encourage transgenders (and other sexual minorities) to enrol themselves. One of the reasons why transgenders find it difficult to access the UID is the erasure of their identity. Many of them have few "official" documents and the ones that they do have indicate the sex that they are born into and not the gender that they now express. The fact that they have no proof of their identity is a huge impediment to their sense of entitlement as well as for them to actually access the benefits that are rightfully theirs.

 

However given the critical questions raised on privacy, civil liberties (besides technological feasibility and costs) an uncritical acceptance of the UID as a "pure good" is also problematic.

 

Aneka and Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum invite you to a meeting to discuss and understand the implications of the UID for transgenders

 

 Programme

 

1.  The difficulties in establishing one's identity: Sharing of experiences by Shobha (Jogappa - Transgender Woman), Veena (Hijra -Transgender Woman), Kiran (Transgender Man) and Manjesh (Intersex Person)

2. Context and background of the UID Malavika Jayaram

3. UID: Implications for Civil Liberties and Privacy Issues B T. Venkatesh 

4. Transgenders and the Policy Spaces – Is the UID a step in the Right Direction? Siddharth Narain

5. Transgender Experiences in trying to get enrolled for the UID in Orissa:Shubham Mishra

The session will be moderated by Vinay Sreenivasan

For more details contact Rajesh 9886155148

Regards,

Aneka and KSMF team