Government may collect data on houses headed by trans persons

In a first, the government looks set to collect data on households headed by a transgender person and members living in the family, home ministry officials said on Wednesday.

Census officers will be seeking specific information based on 31 questions from every household during the house listing and housing census exercise scheduled from April 1 to September 30.

“It is for the first time that information on households headed by a transgender is being collected,” the officials said.

Information will be sought on building number, census house number, predominant material of the floor, use of census house, condition of the census house, household number and total number of persons normally residing in the household, according to a notification issued by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner.

In 2011, the Census collected data on the number of transgender persons, as well as details on their literacy, caste and employment. The data was clubbed under ‘Males’ and later released under a separate heading.