Meet Zoya Khan, First Trans Person In India To Work As Common Service Centre Operator

Zoya Khan has become India's first-ever transgender woman operator of a Common Service Centre. She has been recruited at CSC office in Vadodara, Gujarat, as a telemedicine consultant. Through her achievement and services, Khan aspires to empower the transgender community by making them digitally literate, so that they have access to better opportunities.

Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad took to Twitter to release an official statement regarding her recruitment. He tweeted, ''Zoya Khan is India's first transgender operator of Common Service Centre from Vadodara district of Gujarat. She has started CSC works with Telemedicine consultation. Her vision is to support the transgender community in making them digitally literate & give them better opportunities.''

Key Takeaways:

• Zoya Khan is India's first transgender woman operator of a Community Service Center.
• She has joined as a telemedicine consultant.
• She hails from Vadodara district of Gujarat.
• CSC aims at providing e-Services to rural and remote areas of the country.

Expressing her gratitude for the opportunity, Zoya Khan told ANI, "I am thankful that I was chosen to be the first in my community. I am taking this very positively as I would be able to help people in need."

The Community Service Centers set up by the Indian government across the nation are equipped with facilities to provide e-Services to rural India where internet and computer services are improper or unavailable. A project launched under the Digital India Programme, CSC aims at improving the readability of government schemes to rural India.

Also Read: 10 Transgender People Who Are Breaking Barriers Across Fields

Khan is currently undergoing training sessions about which she told ANI, "I would like to learn about all the government schemes and plans to help the poor as well as the people of my community," further adding, "Although it is like a challenge, I will work with dedication and prove myself."

A Progressive Change

Commemorating Zoya Khan's recruitment, District Manager of CSC Vadodara, Asif Khan Pathan said, "As the country is changing, I thought of involving a transgender to be a Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE) in CSC with the support of my colleagues. Zoya, being the first in her community would be involved in the banking and education sectors,"

This news comes after the MHA’s query, seeking views of concerned authorities over the induction of transgender people in the central armed forces as assistant commandants, early this month, as per a Hindustan Times report. The ministry is planning to include the ‘third gender’ category along with male and female, in rules of the CAPF recruitment exams, starting this year.

Zoya Khan became the first transgender woman to join CSC which was earlier open to two genders only, male and female.

More Such Trailblazing Success of The Transgender Community

In the year 2017, K Prithika Yashini became the first transwoman to become a police officer in India. She is currently a sub-inspector in a Tamil Nadu district. In the same year, Joyita Mondal became the first transgender person to be appointed as a judge in Lok Adalat.

Also Read: India’s First University For Transgender People Coming To UP

Just recently in November 2019, Odisha’s Malkangiri district administration had appointed five transgender persons as security guards at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH).