Kerala’s first tribal woman collector takes charge in Kasaragod
Sreedhanya, who cleared UPSC with an all-India rank of 410, takes charge in Kasaragod
Sreedhanya Suresh has taken charge as Kasaragod District Collector, becoming the first woman from a Scheduled Tribe community to head a district in Kerala.
The 2019-batch IAS officer assumed office on Wednesday, with outgoing Collector Arjun Pandian handing over charge at the Collectorate. Sreedhanya was serving as Commissioner of Food Safety before being transferred and posted as Kasaragod Collector in a recent Kerala government reshuffle.
Speaking to the media after taking charge, Sreedhanya said Kasaragod has significant potential, particularly in tourism, and that she would work to address the district's limitations during her tenure.
Sreedhanya belongs to the Kurichya Scheduled Tribe community in Wayanad. She secured an All India Rank of 410 in the 2018 UPSC Civil Services Examination, becoming the first tribal woman from Kerala to clear it, according to reports.
Her journey to the civil services began in a tribal settlement in Pozhuthana panchayat in Wayanad. Her father, Suresh, worked as a daily-wage labourer, while her mother, Kamala, worked under the rural employment scheme.
The family lived with limited basic amenities, and electricity reached their home only a few years before Sreedhanya entered the civil services. She attended Malayalam-medium government schools and later studied zoology at Devagiri College in Kozhikode before pursuing postgraduate studies at the University of Calicut. Before joining the civil services, she worked with the Tribal Tourism Development Office in Wayanad. An encounter with a senior civil servant during an event reportedly influenced her decision to pursue a career in the civil services.
Sreedhanya's appointment followed a wider Kerala government reshuffle involving 36 IAS officers.
Her appointment marks a notable milestone in Kerala's administrative history. At the same time, her rise from a modest tribal settlement to the leadership of a district administration has also drawn attention to her personal journey and the importance her family placed on education.
