Kerala's first tribal UPSC winner to join as Kozhikode assistant collector

KOCHI: Braving all odds, Sreedhanya Suresh, the first tribal woman from Kerala who cracked the civil service examination, will join as assistant collector in Kozhikode district. The 26 year old Sreedhanya belongs to the Kurichya community in Pozhuthana village in Wayanad district.

The tribal woman, who is now undergoing training at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, will join duty after completing the mandatory quarantine period.

Interestingly, she is posted under Kozhikode collector Sreeram Sambasiva Rao, who inspired her to become a civil service officer, while he was serving as a sub collector in Wayanad district earlier.

Sreedhanya secured 410th rank in the third attempt in civil service examination. She has won widespread acclaim for cracking the UPSC examinations.

Her parents Suresh and Kamalam are daily wage labourers and she lived with them in their unfinished home in Pozhuthana. After completing school studies, she moved to Kozhikode for higher studies. A post graduate in applied zoology, she also worked as project assistant in state scheduled tribes development department. Her sister is a government servant and brother is a student.

During the election campaign in Wayanad constituency, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi had visited Sreedhanya and her family.