NEW DELHI: Delhi University has officially opened its doors to transgenders in postgraduate programmes this year and will extend the policy to undergraduate courses in the next academic year (2015-16) by introducing space for the third gender in its application forms.Applicants from this community will be admitted under a separate category, varsity officials said. In postgraduate admissions, these students have been enrolled under a special category within the OBC quota.“We had planned to start transgender admissions in undergraduate courses from this year but could not do so due to administrative reasons. From 2015-16 academic session, we will be introducing the third gender option in centralized admission forms and also make necessary policies for their admission,” said DU registrar Alka Sharma.Sharma said DU’s transgender initiative was taken before it had received any direction on the matter from the University Grants Commission. In July, UGC had issued a notice asking varsities to include transgenders in various scholarship/fellowship schemes. “The applications forms for teachers’ recruitment also has this category,” she said.Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists welcomed the move saying it was a step in the right direction. But they asked the DU administration, teachers and students to also sensitize the university community on transgender issues.Anjali Gopalan of Naz Foundation (India) said DU’s move would go a long way in integrating transgenders into the mainstream. “It a step in the right direction. It really empowers people and makes them feel they are part of mainstream life. But there has to be a sustained campaign to understand transgenders, their issues and sensitize the society,” Gopalan said.“DU has to involve the transgender community itself so that they are not made to feel like outsiders. Some mechanism has to be evolved for sensitization of the university community and also for the protection of the transgenders from harassment for which even the police needs to be involved,” she added.Around 90,000 candidates had applied for various postgraduate courses this year of which nine were from the transgender community. According to Delhi University officials, these students will be enrolled under the OBC category.LGBT activists, however, expressed some concern about transgenders being enrolled under the OBC category in the applications.LGBT activist and a PhD scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Gourab Ghosh, said, “It will not be fair for transgenders to transgress into OBC category as they are not OBC. A separate quota can be worked out else it would be injustice to both OBCs and transgenders.”“States such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and West Bengal already have policies giving some rights to transgenders. However the Supreme Court’s ruling and DU’s step are important as these will have a national impact,” he added.Like Gopalan, Ghosh too urged the university to start sensitization activities relating to transgenders as, he believed, there will be issues because of this “sudden inclusion after exclusion”.