Sanjana Singh, 36, has become the first-ever transgender to get a Madhya Pradesh government job.
The Kamal Nath government has appointed her as personal assistant to the director in the social justice and destitute welfare department.
Sanjana has been associated with a voluntary organisation working on the child and women health since 2008.
She had to leave her family at the age of 15 to join the transgender community. Her parents hid the fact of her sexuality till she was in class 10. When people finally came to know about this, Sanjana was forced to join the transgender community.
She says it was her dream to create awareness among transgenders to join the mainstream of society and carve a niche for themselves.
“Today, I have found my place in the society again,” she said after her appointment.
Recalling her struggle in the transgender community, Sanjana said initially she would be forced to go house-to-house to sing and dance on auspicious occasions such as marriage and children’s birthdays.
"I never liked that task and kept resisting. As a result, the transgender community abandoned me," she said.
Later, she joined an NGO and became a social worker. She is also the only transgender paralegal volunteer in the Madhya Pradesh district legal aid tribunal. She also sat as a judge in the benches of Lok Adalat.
In 2016, Sanjana joined the cleanliness awareness campaign and played a role in ridding seven village panchayats of open defecation practice in rural Madhya Pradesh.
For her hard work, Sanjana was chosen MP’s brand ambassador for the drive. Actor Amitabh Bachchan gave away her an award for her contribution in this field.