S. Swapna (born 3 July 1990) is an Indian public servant. She 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 government body of the state of Tamil Nadu, India, responsible for the recruitment of candidates for various state government jobs through competitive examinations. It is the successor of t ...
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 ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...
,
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
applied for the TNPSC Group IV Exam in 2012, but the board refused her application because of her
transgender
A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth.
The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
gender identity. As a result of this decision, Swapna and
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 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 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 government body of the state of Tamil Nadu, India, responsible for the recruitment of candidates for various state government jobs through competitive examinations. It is the successor of t ...
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
1990 births
Living people
Indian transgender women
21st-century Indian LGBTQ people
21st-century Indian women
Indian civil servants