India’s first Transgender IAS officer breaks stigma at workplace

“Even today, a majority of people think transgender people are only meant for sex work and begging in trains and traffic signals. My success is a big slap on their faces because, given an opportunity, given a platform, a transgender person can also become a civil servant in India.” Aishwarya Rituparna Pradhan, the country’s first openly transgender IAS officer, minces no words while breaking gender orientation stereotypes at the workplace. She is currently working under the Odisha finance department as a district audit officer in Puri. Also listen: Why Trans People Can’t Live Their DreamsSoon after the Supreme Court’s landmark 2014 judgment that recognised the transgender community as the Third Gender, she officially changed her gender identity in all her documents. Today, we will be telling Aishwarya’s story, in her own words.Sneers and taunts made me realise my true identitySociety’s harsh words inadvertently made Aishwarya realise her true transgender identity early on. “When I was around eight-nine years old, people around me always called me using local derogatory terms like hijra, chhakka, mamu, goodau… so I realised that I was something different from others --- that’s how, that’s why people are calling me these types of different names,” says Aishwarya.She was born as Ratikanta Pradhan to a family from the Kandha tribe in Kanabagiri, a village in Odisha’s Kandhamal district. The second of three children, Ratikanta was always discriminated against by her father and her elder brother, who thought Ratikanta wasn’t man enough for their love and affection. “My father was an ex-Army man, so he always wanted to guide me in his own image, to be disciplined in life. But my destiny was something different. He always treated me as a boy, even though he knew that I am transgender. There was a lot of mental harassment from his side. He used to discriminate against me in terms of providing facilities, in terms of providing love, affection, care…” she recalls. Thankfully, the mother and younger sister stood by in solidarity through Ratikanta’s tumultuous journey of self-discovery. And several years later, when the time was right, they welcomed Ratikanta’s transition to Aishwarya with open arms.“I first shared my feelings with my mother. I knew she understands me very well and appreciates my gender orientations. Gradually, I told my sister as well. I have three to four transgender friends in my village and they taught me a lot. That’s how I brought myself up in the village environment,” she shares. These friends helped a young Ratikanta navigate through the emotional turmoils of being different from others. As people around them spared no chance to hurl abuses and ridicule them for how they were, these friends bonded in shared pain and found solace in each other. School was a nightmare, especially secondary school for which young Ratikanta had to enrol in a boys’ high school in G. Udayagiri town. Looking back at her school days, Aishwarya shares how her physical training teacher at Hubback High School regularly called her out during games period for being feminine. “There was one PT teacher in school who singled me out every time. When he took classes, he always asked out loud: who is the transgender child or feminine child in your class? Then all students pointed their fingers at me and said she is the transgender in our class. Then, the PT teacher instructed me to stand up and hurled the choiciest abuses at me. At that time, I didn’t quite understand why this was happening to me. What wrong did I do? I was totally blank, I didn’t understand what to do. But I cried a lot in that school…” remembers Aishwarya.Even fellow students laughed at her, wrote abusive names on the back of her shirt, tore her notebooks and physically harassed her at every given opportunity. Adding to the trauma, a few students also tore her clothes, curious to check if she had male or female organs. Aishwarya rues that she was not even allowed to join the NCC cadre in school owing to her feminine demeanour. She went on to pursue junior college and graduated with Education Honours from Kalinga Maha Vidyalaya at G. Udayagiri town. Even there, it was the same story of harassment and isolation as most of the students did not want to be friends. Discrimination sowed in me the seeds of civil serviceAfter graduation in 2003, Aishwarya went to Bhubaneswar, Odisha’s capital, and did a postgraduation in public administration. A visit to the local tehsil office to submit the caste certificate showed how the backward tribes were given little or no value, with government officers demanding bribes from them to discharge their basic duties. That’s when she decided to prepare for the Odisha Civil Services exam. She wanted to change the system from within. Being a civil servant would give her the platform to serve her community and ensure that the tribals got their due. But it was also a personal test, to prove her worth as a human being to a society that always thought her to be unworthy. Aishwarya cleared her civil services exam in the very first attempt, that too, without going to any coaching institution, whether for a mock test or a written exam. It was purely her customised self-study methods that saw her through. Looking back, she says the social isolation helped her in a way to focus on her studies.She got inducted into the Odisha Financial Services in 2010 as Ratikanta Pradhan. The first posting was at Paradip as a commercial tax officer. There were a lot of apprehensions about having to report to a transgender boss. Ratikanata could see the hesitance in their eyes…“Initially, my subordinates had some sort of apprehension and began underestimating me. I think their dilemma was genuine because they never expected in their life that one day they will face a transgender boss. So, that apprehension has reduced in due course of time,” she says. In an office, you have to give assignments and get work done irrespective of your gender identity or your sexual orientation, Aishwarya stresses, adding, “So, as a person, it’s immaterial who you are, what you do. Your hard work will determine who you are. I did my job honestly and with the help of my colleagues and my higher authority, I grasped official things quickly. That’s how I managed to create an impression that Aishwarya is a hard working employee in our office.”In 2014, after the National Legal Service Authority judgment, or NALSA judgment, declared transgenders as the third gender, Ratikanta took the help of a local advocate to file an affidavit for change of gender identity to the third gender. The name Ratikanta Pradhan was changed to Aishwarya Rituparna Pradhan in all the official documents. Do they call me Sir or Madam?Overnight, her attire changed from shirts and trousers to sarees and dresses. Everyone in office was naturally taken aback and didn’t know how to address her.Aishwarya recalls, “After my NALSA judgment, I changed to female outfits and my physical transition began. My juniors got perplexed. They didn’t know what to call me. They asked me, do we call you Sir or Madam? I proudly said please call me Ma’am, not Sir, because this is my real identity. Then they started to respect me as Ma’am. I am so happy because I was able to change their mentality. And, they were also happy to work with me because it’s a lifetime experience for them.”Tarakanta Mohapatra used to work as a junior programmer for commercial tax and GST at Paradip back in April 2014. Tarakanta fondly recalls his superior, Ratikanta, to be an ever-smiling, polite, kind-hearted and helpful person who never had an angry word for anybody. “I saw her transition from Ratikanta Pradhan to Aishwarya Rituparna while Pradhan sir was working with that office. After her name change, everybody began calling her Madam and she became more excited and happy to listen to the word Madam.”Amrita Majhi, currently working as a commercial tax and GST officer of Koraput Range at Jeypore, Odisha, began working as Aishwarya’s subordinate in 2018. In four years of working together, Aishwarya became Amrita’s teacher and guide.“She is my senior at the workplace, but I look upon her as my elder sister. Despite all the struggles in her life, she is always happy, always content. That’s what keeps motivating me. She has never treated me as her junior. We used to work together and she used to guide me at every step. Her jovial nature made the work hours look like a breeze. We get sad over little things, but look at her, she has endured so much of pain throughout her life…. Despite everything, she always remains motivated. That’s a quality we keep trying to learn from her,” says Amrita.Govt has warmed up to transgenders, but society needs to accept us tooAishwarya feels that, ever since the NALSA judgment, the central government is slowly but surely warming up to the transgender community. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and its related rules formulated in 2020 are positive steps to provide economic and social security to transgenders and thereby bring the marginalised community into the mainstream, she says. Even the Odisha government has formulated a lot of welfare schemes for transgender people. The Sweekruti Odisha scheme for promotion of transgender equality and justice was formulated in 2017. Its key strategies include survey and identification; financial assistance to parents of transgender people; upgrading skills for entrepreneurship training; health care support; student scholarships; mental health and counselling support; as well as sensitization on transgender rights and entitlements. She shares, “In association with government departments, the transgender populations are engaged in collecting arrear dues, holding taxes, managing parking slots, collecting parking fees, and formation of transgender SH groups. A lot of transgender people are self-employed in urban local bodies. The municipalities and NECs are employing them as data entry operators and in different capacities.”But without family and societal acceptance, all acts, all judgments, all the inclusive policies become fruitless and redundant, insists Aishwarya. Every time a transgender child is disowned or abandoned, there is every chance that the child will be led astray and be exploited physically, mentally, emotionally… even financially. “Parents must accept their child’s orientation, their child’s sexuality, because a child is just a child, we must embrace the beauty of sexuality. Family acceptance is paramount, family acceptance is indispensable for us,” she declares, saying if the family accepts the transgender child from the beginning itself, 99% of the problems will be solved.Aishwarya appeals to all parents, “Those who have transgender children at home, please accept our sexuality, our orientation and give us the love, affection, equal opportunity. We just need your love, affection, time, priority. What you are giving your male child or female child, we also need that. Just give that and giv e the best education you can, and that will bring a lot of changes in the mindset of society.Aishwarya is sure that once there is widespread family acceptance, society is bound to follow suit. “That’s why I request to the larger society that we are also human beings and part and parcel of your society. Please, at least, give us the respect as a human being because, under our Constitution, we are the citizens of India. So, the basic and fundamental rights you are enjoying are also my rights. We need just the right platform, the right opportunity to showcase our talent. If you give this right platform, a lot of Aishwaryas can contribute to the development of society. So, please don’t give us just sympathy, give us the platform, give us the opportunity to compete with you,” she signs off.Anchor: Pallavi BhartiAudio production: Prateek KapoorCall to action:As the voice of India, TOI has covered many such stories that are a true representation of a society in transition. If you too have such story to share, write in to us at timesspecial@timesgroup.com. Some of the best, most unconventional stories stand a chance to get featured in The Times of India.You may also share your story on your social media handles with #ChangeBeginsHere and tag @timesspecial (on facebook or linkedin) or @timesspecialtoi (on twitter or instagram).