C Vanmathi is an IAS officer from Tamil Nadu. However, her story is not an ordinary one.
A resident of Erode district in Tamil Nadu, Vanmath was a cattle herder who always dreamt of being a district collector.As she spent most of her time studying and tending to her family's cattle around their village, Vanmathi only had her dreams for company, which she realised later.
According to the Better India report, Vanmathi drew inspiration from the District Collector of her hometown, whom she saw commanding respect from both young and old alike, and the TV series Ganga-Yamuna which had a lady protagonist play the role of an IAS officer in the show.
She appeared for the UPSC exam in 2015 and was among the 1,236 people who cleared the exam that year. She was in the hospital with her father, who suffered a spinal injury, when the results were announced, according to Better India.
Vanmathi attributes her success to her parents. Her parents gave her the freedom to pursue her dreams at a time when most parents marry their daughters off.
“My father works as a car driver, and my conviction that education has the power to uplift our status gave me the impetus to study further,” she told
The Hindu in an interview in 2015.
She completed her training at Lal Bahadur Shastri Training Academy and her first posting was as District Collector in Maharastra.
Vanmathi is currently posted as the Assistant Collector and Project Officer for the Integrated Tribal Development Project, Nandurbar.
