NDTV called Aishwarya Rutuparna Pradhan Odisha's 1st transgender civil servant
Aishwarya Rutuparna Pradhan, whom NDTV described in 2018 as Odisha's first state civil servant from the transgender community, grew up in Odisha's Kandhamal district, where she faced discrimination and little family support, but stayed focused on her studies and earned a postgraduate degree in public administration.
After working at a bank and interning at a newspaper, she cleared the Odisha Financial Service exam in 2010, joined the state government service, and later served as a Commercial Tax Officer in Paradip.
Pradhan publicly came out after 2014
Everything changed in 2014 when the Supreme Court recognized transgender people as a third gender. Pradhan then came out publicly and changed her name.
In 2017, the Odisha government formally recognized her gender identity. Her journey has since been associated with greater visibility for transgender people in government service.