Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences appoints Sadhana Kinnar, a transgender, as social development officer

Bhubaneswar: The Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) on Sunday said it had appointed a transgender as a social development officer.

Sadhana Kinnar, originally known as Sadhana Mishra, hails from Keonjhar town and holds an MA degree in Social Work and Business Administration, the institute said in a statement.

This is for the first time in the country that a transgender has been appointed in the private sector, it claimed.

She has been doing work in the field of gender identity, gender discrimination, social mainstreaming of transgenders and development of underprivileged children and women for the past 14 years in Bhubaneswar.

In the past she was associated with NGOs like Sakha, HIV AIDs Alliance, Sathi and UNDP. In October 2016, Sadhana attended the International Visitors Leadership Programme in the USA for one month.

Expressing happiness, Dr Achyuta Samanta, founder of KISS, said the appointment would contribute to change the mindset of the society toward transgenders and empower them to bring them to the mainstream.

Thanking Dr Samanta, Sadhana said, “I am obliged to Samanta for giving me appointment in the KISS. I had an ambition to work in a large organisation like KISS. I can do more work for the empowerment of transgenders through KISS in the coming days.”