Times of India Seven months after the Tamil Nadu Government's revolutionary order offering free penile amputations for aravanis (Tamil term for transvestites), members of the community are fuming because doctors are refusing to wield the scalpel. The Government had offered free penile amputations to prevent unsafe castrations. Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are home to around 60,000 registered transvestites, many of who resort to unsafe castrations. The Tamil Nadu government order had gained popularity among the transvestites and it had even enhanced the celebrations at an annual eunuch congregation in May - the Koovagam festival in May. "We welcomed this as a revolutionary step," said Mohini a transvestite from Tambaram in Chennai. But the order has not been implemented because government doctors are either unaware of the largesse or they are not willing to perform the surgery for personal reasons.
