More women occupying higher positions help in transforming: Mandya Deputy Commissioner Aswathi Seluraj

Shilpa P | NT

Mandya Deputy Commissioner, IAS officer Aswathi. S who always accords priority to call of duty, has been an inspiration to the female officers, working women and female fraternity as such, for all her efficiency and grace in handling her profession with great passion for the welfare of the people. People of Mandya will barely forget her services, especially during second wave of Covid when she dedicated herself to serve them round the clock though she had a one-year old child at home and also when she herself tested positive for covid.
 
Aswathi balances her life as a mother of a child, who is now two-year old, as well as wife of a bureaucrat husband, Dr. Bagadi Gautham, Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru district. She was lucky to have an erudite parentage, father Seluraj being a lawyer while mother Pushpa has retired as deputy commissioner of commercial taxes.
 
Hailing from Kozhikode, Aswathi drew inspiration from her grandfather, headmaster Harshan, to pursue her dream as an officer in the Indian Civil Service. Harshan would often tell her about the Indian Civil Service, how one can serve the people and be useful to the society through it. While doing her MBA, she realized her passion lay in joining the civil service. She cracked the UPSC exam in 2013 notching 24th rank. Since then she has not looked back, ascending the ladder. After postings at a variety of locations, she was posted as DC, Mandya in February 2021. She talked to News Trail on the eve of International Women’s Day:
 

Challenges during Covid-19
Covid was a very challenging period, especially the second wave, since the numbers of those attracting infection were very high during the peak. I had been on my toes all through the day, meeting the huge demand for beds, oxygen, ventilators. I myself turned positive at one stage and I had one-year old baby at home. Both of us were working round the clock. Even when at home, operations had to be coordinated over phone. We were not able to devote much time for the baby. By the time the third wave began, we had done all the preparations with regard to oxygen plants, and the hospitals were ready to meet any exigency. Thankfully the gravity of third wave was less, though the numbers were high and we did not have much of the issues. During the third wave, my son, who had by then grown two-year old, tested positive. Being a kid, he could barely perceive isolation, quarantine etc.
 
Though the women today are serving in all fields, how challenging it has been to be a female officer in a society which is still male-dominated to a certain extent and male chauvinism still operates.
Yes, True. As a society, we have already travelled quite a distance, but we still have to go further. Even now certain people think that this officer is a woman, and skeptical if she can equally efficiently handle a situation just as a male officer can. Today we have a woman MP Ms Sumalatha Ambareesh; a woman CEO of the Mandya Zilla Panchayat, and women serving as ADC, two tahsildars, one Assistant Commissioner. More women are coming forward, and more women are occupying such higher positions.  I think it helps in transforming the mindset of the people and making them realize that women are equally efficient like their male counterparts. When women see more lady officers, they also get motivated and get the feeling that even they can achieve that, and gender is not a handicap.  
 

Which position/work/achievement gave you maximum satisfaction?
Every single posting and every single location offered me the same sense of satisfaction.
When we resolve issues of people that were pending for long, when people remember our service, that itself is the greatest achievement.
 
Your message to women and young girls
If we look around we can find women occupying significant positions in all fields all across nations. Women should come forward, pursue their passions, not let anything hold them back, and should aspire for high positions.