LGBTQ+ individuals can now open joint bank accounts: Centre clarifies 'no restrictions’
New Delhi: The Finance Ministry has announced that LGBTQ+ individuals now face no restrictions when opening joint bank accounts or nominating their partners as beneficiaries. This clarification was issued following a Supreme Court order dated October 17, 2023, in the case of Supriyo@Supriya Chakraborty and another vs Union of India.
On August 28, the Ministry released an advisory emphasizing that queer community members can open joint accounts and designate their partners as nominees. This step follows a clarification issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to all commercial banks on August 21.
The advisory also reflects the RBI's ongoing efforts since 2015, when banks were instructed to include a 'third gender' option in their forms, enabling transgender individuals to access banking services more easily. This initiative led to the introduction of services tailored to the transgender community by various banks.
One such example is the 'Rainbow Savings Account' scheme launched by ESAF Small Finance Bank Ltd in 2022, which offered exclusive benefits to transgender individuals.
In response to the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling, the Centre formed a six-member committee in April 2024, chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, to address issues faced by the LGBTQ+ community. The committee is tasked with ensuring equal access to services and protection against discrimination, violence, and harassment.
For further details, the advisory has been shared on the official Twitter handle of the Department of Financial Services (DFS).
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
