A Transgender Welfare Board has been established by the Gujarat government, which has been constituted by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment. The community’s housing, education, employment and livelihood will be taken care of by the 16-member board. Gay prince Manvendra Singh, who has been fighting for LGBT rights through Lakshya Trust for the last 18 years, highly praised the government. He said that what led to this decision was a meeting that they had with the government representative in Vadodara two months back. Gujarat is where the temple of Goddess Bahucharaji, the third gender’s deity, is located, and this welfare board was indeed much awaited. He further said that they had requested the government to give female-to-male and male-to-female transgenders representation too, as several members of the community do like being identified as hijras (eunuchs), reported Ahmedabad Mirror. He said that the Supreme Court’s NALSA (National Legal Services Authority) judgement has led to this decision. The third gender too will be a part of the census in 2021, and the board will attempt to give them a dignified way of life.