Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) has appointed Sadhana Kinnar, a transgender, as Social Development Officer on June 10, 2017. This is for the first time in India that a transgender has been appointed in the private sector.

Sadhana Kinnar was originally known as Sadhana Mishra. She hails from Keonjhar town. She is well educated having Master’s Degree in Social Work and Business Administration. She has been doing work in field of Gender Identity, Gender Discrimination, Social Mainstreaming of Transgender and Development of Underprivileged Children and Women for the last 14 years in Bhubaneswar. In past she has been associated with NGOs like Sakha, Lepra Society, HIV AIDs Alliance, Sathi and UNDP. In October 2016, Sadhana underwent international visitors leadership programme in USA for one month.

Expressing his happiness Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS said, the appointment will contribute to change the mindset of society towards transgender and empower them to bring them to the mainstream of the society. Thanking Dr. Samanta, Sadhana said, “I am obliged to Dr. Samanta for giving me appointment in KISS on my birthday. I had an ambition to work in a large organization like KISS, which has been fulfilled today. I can do more work for the empowerment of transgenders through KISS in the coming days”.