Looking for immunity? Just clap your hands. This shortcut to good health was prescribed by a Samajwadi Party MP from the Rajya Sabha on Friday. He was participating in a debate on a private member Bill which sought equal rights for transgenders.

According to Vishambhar Prasad Nishad, eunuchs never fall sick because they clap. “Eunuchs come for showering their blessings at the time of weddings and child birth… We have heard and read that they always keep clapping. Clapping is a therapy like acupuncture. I have never seen them in any hospital… They never fall sick because they clap. This is a lesson for society. If anyone claps at a ‘kirtan bhajan’, then that also helps,” he said. He also spoke about discrimination of transgenders and sought equal rights for them.

Cutting across party lines, they all backed the private members Bill, tabled by DMK’s Tiruchi Siva. CPM’s P Rajeeve said gender column should be made mandatory in all applications for transgenders and there should be a special ward for them in hospitals.

TMC’s Vivek Gupta said such was the discrimination that the first passport to a transgender person was issued only last month. NCP’s D P Tripathi pointed out that literacy among the transgender community was just 46 per cent. Almost all the MPs urged the government to adopt Siva’s bill or bring a similar legislation to help the community which is facing social stigma and ostracism.

Replying to the debate, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot said the government is set to bring a national policy for transgenders to ensure they get benefits like SC, ST and backward classes.

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