Kerala's First Tribal Woman To Crack UPSC Exams All Set To Be Asst Collector In Kozhikode

Sreedhanya is now undergoing training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussorie. She will also have to undergo a 14-day quarantine in Kerala before joining. However, the joining date has not yet been confirmed due to the ongoing nationwide lockdown.

She will serve under IAS officer Sreeram Sambasiva Rao, the present district collector of Kozhikode.

Hailing from Pozhuthana panchayat in Wayanad, Sreedhanya had scored 410th rank in the civil services exams of 2018. After she finished her post-graduation, had worked as a project assistant in the Scheduled Tribes department in the district for a few months. It was then that she got a chance to interact with Sreeram Sambasiva Rao, who was then Wayanad sub-collector. That interaction revived her childhood dream of becoming an IAS officer.

Sreedhanya has said that her priority would be to improve the education of the tribal children.

"I firmly believe that only education can bring change in our living conditions. I will also work towards ensuring the land rights of the people, women's safety and conservation of the environment apart from trying to bring some sort of financial security of the people," she told Onmanorama.

She completed her degree from St Joseph's College Devagiri in Kozhikode and post-graduation from the Calicut University campus. She cleared her exam in her third attempt.

Sreedhanya's parents, Suresh and Kamala, are daily wage labourers who sell bows and arrows at the market for a living.