Sreedhanya Suresh: Kerala’s first tribal woman becomes IAS officer

Every year lakhs of candidates in the country appear for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination. But only a few of them are successful in their journey.

After facing failure twice, Sridhanya finally succeeded in her tough and challenging journey.
Sreedhanya Suresh is the first tribal woman from Kerala to become an IAS officer.

Sreedhanya (IAS Sreedhanya Suresh) comes from the Kurichiya community. Despite problems like lack of facilities and financial constraints, she continued to move ahead in her journey.

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The journey from warden to IAS officer

Sreedhanya is a resident of Pojuthana village in Wayanad district. Apart from his parents, he has three brothers and sisters in his family. Sridhanya’s parents worked hard day and night for the bright future of their children.

Sridhanya’s father works as a daily wage laborer and also sells bows and arrows in the market. His mother works as a laborer under the MNREGA scheme.

Due to lack of money, Sridhanya completed her studies till 12th from a government school. After this, he did his graduation in Zoology from St. Joseph’s College, Calicut University and then he also completed his post-graduation from the same university.

After his post-graduation, he started appearing for government posts. After which she started working as a warden in the hostel of the Scheduled Tribe Development Department.

As a warden, Sridhanya used to get a satisfactory amount. But she was not happy with her work. After which he started taking the UPSC exam.

After failing twice, he finally achieved success. In 2018, she passed both stages of UPAC with good marks.

But even after passing Mains, challenges remained. He did not have money to give an interview in Delhi. Sridhanya’s friend stood by her in this financial crunch. Her friend gave her Rs 40,000 for an interview in Delhi.

After clearing the interview, Sridhanya Suresh cracked the UPSC exam with AIR 410 on her third attempt due to her unwavering dedication and support from her family. With this, she also became the first tribal woman IAS officer of Kerala.