What is the Transgender Protection of Rights Bill?

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Following the NALSA judgment, there have been several versions of the bill proposed. The 2014 version was introduced by Tiruchi Siva, a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Rajya Sabha MP. It was passed in the Rajya Sabha, but it wasn’t introduced in the Lok Sabha. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment then drafted another version of the Bill in 2015. Many organisations working on trans rights responded to the draft bill and offered strong recommendations. It was by far the weakest version of the Bill, because it was unclear on affirmative action for the community and mandated that a statelevel authority would decide whether to give someone a transgender certificate or not (“Rights of Transgender Persons Bill 2014 | Orinam”, 2015).