Nothing can stop people from achieving their goals if they really work hard for it. Struggle is just a part of the road to success. And who knows it better than the first tribal women of Kerala who cleared the Civil Services Exam (CSE) and become an IAS officer. She also got her first posting during the upsurge of COVID 19 cases as an Assistant Collector (On Training), Kozhikode.
Sreedhanya Suresh, who comes from a Kurichiya tribal family in Wayanad, Kerala has faced all the ups and downs in the 28 years of her life. Coming from a family of daily wage workers, who used to work at Ambalakkolli in Pozhuthana gram panchayat in Wayanad district, it was very tough for them to maintain economic stability.
Growing Up In A Tribal Area
Sreedhanya’s parents Suresh and Kamala used to meet their basic needs by selling bows and arrows in the local market. They were also highly dependent on the MNREGA scheme. While growing up, being provided with formal education was a big task for her parents, as liked most of the people in the region they too belonged to a very low-income group.
Sreedhanya Suresh told Indian Masterminds, “My family’s economic condition was not good as we used to live in an unfinished house without any land documents at that time. My family procured the land documents only after I cleared the UPSC 2018 exam.”
Sreedhanya completed her basic education in local schools in Wayanad. She was inclined towards studies from the very beginning. Keeping her family’s financial status in mind, she did not want to limit herself in studies. Hence, she pursued further education in zoology and got admission in St. Josephs College, Devagiri, Kozhikode. After completing her graduation, she got into a post-graduation course in Applied Zoology from the Calicut University campus and got selected there.
She said, “My parents helped me a lot by sacrificing a huge portion of their meager income to pursue my dreams.” Sreedhanya was the second child, with one elder sister and a younger brother. Her elder sister is a government servant, whereas her brother is a polytechnic student.
District Collector Ignites The Spark
Soon after completing her studies, she started working as she also wanted to contribute her bit in the family. She served as a clerk at Kerala’s Scheduled Tribes Development Department and also worked at an Adivasi hotel as a warden.
However, in 2016, while she was working as the Project Assistant in the Scheduled Tribes department in Wayanad, she came across the person who provoked her childhood feelings of appearing for the civil services exam. Mr. Seeram Sambasiva Rao, who was the sub-collector of Wayanad at that time, addressed her in a very warm manner. She recalled “Seeram Sambasiva Rao sir gave me the spark of appearing for civil exams and to pursue my dreams. He was the person who inspired me, after which I decided to prepare for the civil services exam.”
During her three attempts of cracking UPSC CSE, she was given a helping hand by many, because of which she has been able to sustain her efforts. She said, “Apart from the support I was getting from my family, I also got assisted by some good-minded people, such as those from of fortune IAS academy, Shankar IAS academy, schedule tribe development department, scheduled caste development department and some of my friends. I also got a scholarship from the Fortune IAS academy for my UPSC preparation”.
Becoming The First Tribal Women IAS Officer
After facing failure for two consecutive years, Shreedhanya cleared the civil services exam in the third attempt, securing an All India Rank (AIR) of 410 in 2018. With this, she became the first tribal woman who became an IAS officer in Kerala. She was also praised by Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, former Indian National Congress President Rahul Gandhi, and the general secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Now she is inspiring the youth and mostly the people belonging to the tribal community all over the county.
First Posting During COVID-19
After completing her training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, in Mussoorie, Shreedhanya got her first individual field posting as the Assistant Collector (on training), Kozhikode under DC Seeram Sambasiva Rao. She was excited as she got a chance to work under the person who had inspired her to clear UPSC in the first place!
The young IAS officer was a bit surprised, but not unduly taken aback, that her first appointment came when the country was battling with a pandemic. She has taken this in her stride.
As Shreedhanya said “This is a very strange time, we have that we have not experienced anything like this before. My first posting is in Kozhikode district as an Assistant Collector. Our daily activities, meetings, field visits, etc. is centered on Covid-19. I am the nodal officer of COVID care centers in Kozhikode and we have established COVID care centers in each panchayat for the returnees to finish their 14 days quarantine period.”
Shreedhanya’s determination in achieving the goal is a mark of true inspiration for many people. People coming from a privileged background, even with all their resources and privileges, find it difficult to accomplish what she has. And for this, she finds herself indebted to many people, including her poor parents.
