OFS officer in Odisha feels proud being a ‘fairer sex’ now

PARADIP: Defying all social conventions and stigmas, a 32-year-old Odisha Finance Service (OFS) officer has been brave enough to reveal her transgender identity publicly as she had been earlier he named as Ratikanta Pradhan.

Born Ratikanta Pradhan, the OFS officer has now adopted a new identity as Aishwarya Rutuparna Pradhan.

Posted as Commercial Tax Officer (CTO) in Paradip Port Township, Pradhan takes pride in her identity. Her perseverance and sincerity helped her get the better of her prevailing social system.

She said that on April 15, 2014, the Supreme Court ruling recognising transgenders under the third gender category and guaranteeing their constitutional rights was the shot in the arm that she needed to take her decision.

“The very day that the apex court delivered its landmark verdict, I made up my mind to opt for third gender identity instead of male gender,” she recalled.

She can be found sitting in her chamber dressed in a salwar-kameej, shiny nails, bangles on her hands, nose ring, earrings, long hairs complete a woman’s shoes. Ratikanta changed her name to Rutuparna after becoming a transgender.  In the office, she is addressed by her colleagues as both ‘Madam and Pradhan Babu’ while people, visiting the office for work, address her as ‘Madam’.

A native of obscure Kanabagiri village under G Udaygiri block in Odisha’s Kandhamal district, Pradhan had entered the Odisha Financial Service in October 2010, as a male candidate.

A post graduate in public administration and a graduate from Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Pradhan had interned with a newspaper before opting for a clerical job in a bank. Later, she had cracked the state civil service.

“The transformation left many awed. But everything has become normal. The very people who were addressing me as ‘sir’ are now addressing me as ‘madam’. I did not face any unpleasant situation as my superior officer is very supportive,” she said.

She is ready to marry if she finds a suitable boy. While doctors say she will not be able to achieve motherhood, she is willing to go to the extent of having a child through alternative methods.

Apart from discharging her duty as a responsible officer she devotes her time to the task of uplifting the transgender community through her voluntary outfit ‘Sakha’ in Bhubaneswar of which she is one of the founder members.

Pradhan said that her transgender identity has not come in the way of her discharging the responsibilities and duties assigned to her.

“In an affidavit before an executive magistrate, I have already become Aishwarya Rutuparna Pradhan. I have submitted relevant records for change and modification of my name and gender. I expect to be conferred transgender classification on government records very shortly,” she said.