What happened: On July 4, in a momentous decision, the Sindh Assembly approved a law establishing a half percent quota for transgender people in the province’s public sector organisations. “At this point, it’s just the beginning because the quota for transgender people is only 0.5 percent,” said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla, “We will make sure that this quota is enforced not only in the government sector but also in the private sector.” The bill: The statement and objects of the law state: “The transgender [persons] are a vulnerable and marginalised group in our society. Violence, socio-political exclusion, economic inequality/insecurity, and emotional insensitivity have all plagued Pakistan’s transgender minority throughout its turbulent history. In order to strengthen them, the Government of Sindh has decided to reserve a 0.5 percent quota for transgender people. As a result, it is necessary to change the Sindh Civil Servants Act of 1973.” Why it matters: There are 10,418 transgender people in the nation overall, according to the 2017 Census. Sindh has the second-largest number of transgender persons (2,527, or 24%), whereas Punjab has the highest number (6,709, or 64.4 percent) of transgender people in the country.