Karunanidhi writes to prime minister to include transgenders in Census

Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi today requested prime minister Manmohan Singh to take steps to enumerate the transgender community in Census
2011.

In a letter to Singh, he said there was a considerable number of transgenders in the country.

"I suggest they may also be enumerated and necessary provisions may be made in the format," he said.

Pavement dwellers, who are usually left out of the census exercise, should also be brought under the ambit of the enumeration, he said.

Karunanidhi described the exercise to prepare the first ever National Population Register as a "milestone" and welcomed creation of finger-printed biometric national database of persons above the age of 15.