S Swapna, is the first transgender Gazetted Officer in India. She is also the first transgender person to take the civil services
TNPSC
The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) is a department of the government of Tamil Nadu that is responsible for governing the recruitment of personnel into the state's public service. It is the successor of the Madras Service Commiss ...
recruitment exam for public service employees in the Tamil Nadu state. Swapna is serving as Assistant commissioner of Commercial Tax Department in Tamil Nadu.
Background
Swapna, born in
Madurai
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...
,
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...
applied for the TNPSC Group IV Exam in 2012, but the board refused her application because of her
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
gender identity. As a result of this decision, Swapna carried out a protest in front of
Madurai District
Madurai district is one of the 38 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in southeastern India., United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency The city of Madurai serves as the district headquarters. It houses the famous Sri Meenakshi ...
Collectorate along with
Gopi Shankar Madurai
Gopi Shankar Madurai, born 13 April 1991, is an Indian equal rights and Indigenous rights activist. Shankar was one of the youngest, and the first openly intersex and genderqueer statutory authority and one of the candidates to contest in 2016 ...
on 7 October 2013 demanding reservation and to permit alternate genders to appear for examinations conducted by TNPSC, UPSC, SSC and Bank Exams. She later filed a petition at the
Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court to allow transgender women to take TNPSC exams as female candidates.
In 2013 the appeal was successful and she was allowed to take the exam as female candidate, she is the first transgender woman to take this exam.
Challenging
TNPSC
The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) is a department of the government of Tamil Nadu that is responsible for governing the recruitment of personnel into the state's public service. It is the successor of the Madras Service Commiss ...
In July 2016, she appeared for the written examinations for the Group-I officers. She was declared unsuccessful but the administration was unable to provide the copy of her answer. She brought the case to the tribunal, and the Madras High Court asked for the complete copy, in the context of massive malpractices.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swapna, S.
People from Madurai
Transgender in Asia
1990 births
Living people