Who became India's first transgender folk dancer to receive the Padma Shri, in 2021?

Explanation

Matha B. Manjamma Jogati, a folk artist from Karnataka, received the Padma Shri in 2021 for her contribution to the folk dance and music of the Jogati tradition. She was the first transgender folk artist to receive this honour.

Manjamma Jogati was born in 1964 as Manjunath Shetty in Kallukamba village in the Ballari district of Karnataka. As a young person, she faced rejection because of her gender identity, and she was dedicated to the goddess Yellamma as a "jogati", a member of a community of transgender persons and women devoted to the goddess. She learnt the Jogati Nritya, a devotional folk dance performed in honour of the goddess Yellamma, from her guru, Kalavva Jogati. The dancers carry a pot (koda) or a basket with an image of the goddess on their heads and dance while singing devotional songs. Manjamma Jogati performed the dance across Karnataka and other states and worked to preserve and promote it. In 2019, she became the first transgender person to be appointed President of the Karnataka Janapada Academy, the state's academy for folk arts. Her life story has been included in school and university textbooks in Karnataka.

Another transgender artist who has received the Padma Shri is Narthaki Nataraj, a Bharatanatyam dancer from Tamil Nadu, who received it in 2019, before Manjamma Jogati.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Narthaki Nataraj, a Bharatanatyam dancer, was the first trans woman to receive the Padma Shri (2019), but she is a classical dancer, not a folk dancer.
• ✗Gulabo Sapera is a famous Kalbelia dancer who received the Padma Shri in 2016.
• ✗Teejan Bai is a famous Pandwani singer who received the Padma Vibhushan in 2019.