LUCKNOW:
Deoria
district in eastern Uttar Pradesh needed someone to put into practice the
IIT
Kanpur tagline — “Lead me from darkness to light”. In an extraordinary convergence of talent, the top four helming the backward district now are all IIT graduates. Deoria watches with hope for a brighter future.
The key figures responsible for Deoria’s development — the MP, district magistrate, superintendent of police, and chief development officer (CDO) — share a common academic background from IITs.
Deoria MP
Shashank
Mani Tripathi, an IIT-Delhi alumnus from the 1986 batch, also holds an MBA from a business school in Lausanne, Switzerland. District magistrate
Divya
Mittal, a 2013-batch IAS officer, is also an IIT-Delhi graduate and holds a postgraduate degree from IIM-Mumbai. Before her civil service career, she worked as an investment banker.
SP Sankalp Sharma is a chemical engineer from IIT-Roorkee, and CDO Pratyush Pandey is a civil engineering graduate from IIT-Kanpur, with an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad.
While the impact of their qualifications on Deoria’s transformation will unfold over the coming months, this distinctive combination has sparked optimism among the district’s residents.
Mittal highlighted the practical advantages of her technical education in her administrative role. “Knowledge gained from IITs certainly helps in certain situations as a govt officer. For example, as an engineer, I applied my knowledge to assist in bringing water to the top of the mountain in Mirzapur while I was serving as the DM there,” she told TOI.
During her tenure in Mirzapur, the residents of Lahuria Dah village received piped water for the first time since Independence. Mittal from New Delhi underscored the value of diverse academic backgrounds in civil services. “I do endorse diversity in civil services, as people from various academic backgrounds bring their unique ideas, culture, and work style which helps in improving the govt system to work efficiently for the public. It would be an interesting experience to work with fellow IITians in the district to bring about a change in the lives of people.”
MP Tripathi reflected on the broader benefits of an IIT education. “Besides developing intellect, IIT teaches us commitment to work hard and bring innovative solutions to problems. One should remember that the intellect of a person from a non-scientific background is equally important for the development of any constituency, district, or state.”
Tripathi is the son of former MP Lt Gen (retired) Prakash Mani Tripathi and the grandson of Surti Narayan Mani Tripathi, the first ICS officer from UP and founder of
Gorakhpur
University.
SP Sharma stressed the complementary role of his engineering background in policing. “Being an engineer, I depend on logic. However, academic lessons are of less utility in policing, but experience gained in the field is immensely helpful in public service. I’m confident that fellow IITians will work in synergy for the betterment of people," said Sharma, who joined Deoria in 2022.
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