As part of its social upliftment measures for the members of transgender community, Kerala government launched a self-employment loan scheme for the transgender community members.
Loans ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 15 lakh will be offered to the transgender community members for self-employment projects through the Kerala State Women's Development Corporation, said Kerala Health and Social Justice Minister K K Shailaja.
With unemployment remaining as one major issue faced by the 38,000 odd transgender community members in Kerala, the self-employment scheme could be very beneficial, said Sheetal, a member of Kerala Transgender Justice Board. At present hardly ten percent of the community members have some or other regular employment, she added.
She said that Kerala government had been initiating a slew of welfare measures for the community, including health and education schemes. Compared to other states in India, Kerala seems to be much ahead in implementing schemes for welfare of transgender community.
Shailaja said that the self-employment loan scheme was aimed at empowering the transgender community members. Once the community members come up with viable self-employment projects, they would be sanctioned loans. Up to 70 per cent of the loan would be sanctioned initially after the scheme was approved by the government, and remaining 30 percent would be sanctioned after evaluating the implementation.
Already several self-help groups of transgender community members were functioning in Kerala and such group would get priority in the loan scheme.