Kasaragod: Sreedhanya Suresh, Kerala's first tribal woman to clear the UPSC Civil Services Examination, took charge as Kasaragod District Collector on Wednesday, becoming the first woman from a Scheduled Tribe community to head a district in the state.

Incumbent Collector Arjun Pandian handed over charge to Sreedhanya at the Collectorate.
“Kasaragod has a lot of potential, particularly in tourism. If there are limitations for the district, I will try to change them during my tenure,” she told the media after assuming office.

Sreedhanya, a 2019-batch IAS officer, was serving as Commissioner of Food Safety before being transferred and posted as Kasaragod Collector.

Pandian, a 2017-batch IAS officer, has been transferred and posted as Director of the Agriculture Development and Farmers Welfare Department. He will also hold the full additional charge of Additional Project Director, KERA, Registrar of Co-operative Societies and Director of Co-operative Audit. Pandian had served as Thrissur Collector before taking charge as Kasaragod Collector six months ago.

A member of the Kurichya Scheduled Tribe community, Sreedhanya secured an All India Rank of 410 in the UPSC Civil Services Examination in 2018.
She grew up in a tribal settlement in Pozhuthana panchayat in Wayanad in a family that depended largely on daily-wage labour.

Her father, Suresh, worked as a daily-wage labourer, while her mother, Kamala, worked under the rural employment scheme. The family lived in a modest house with limited basic amenities, and electricity reached their home only a few years before Sreedhanya entered the civil services.