Social media has been buzzing with photos of Vishakha Yadav, an IAS officer, welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Arunachal Pradesh on September 22. The images, which show Yadav greeting the PM in the Papum Pare district, have sparked interest in her background and career. Many have taken to online platforms to learn more about this civil servant.
Yadav shared her experience on social media, highlighting the privilege of welcoming the Prime Minister. She wrote, “Privileged with an opportunity to extend a warm welcome to The Hon’ble Prime Minister in PapumPare district on his visit to the State.”
Vishakha Yadav is the current District Collector of Papum Pare in Arunachal Pradesh. She is an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and belongs to the AGMUT cadre, which is specifically for Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territories. Born in Delhi in 1994, she comes from a family where her father, Rajkumar Yadav, is an assistant sub-inspector, and her mother is a homemaker.
Before her career in the civil services, Yadav was an engineer. After earning an engineering degree from Delhi Technological University (DTU), she worked at Cisco in Bengaluru. However, her ambition was to become an IAS officer. To pursue this goal, she left her engineering job to prepare for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam without any formal coaching. Although she didn’t succeed in her initial attempts, she cleared the exam on her third try. She reportedly scored 1,046 out of 2,025 marks in the UPSC exam.
As a former DC of Kurung Kumey, she was recognized with the prestigious PM’s Award 2024 for excellence in Public Administration 2024 for her “DigiKaksha” initiative. Her work is recognized for promoting digital learning and improving governance in the northeastern state.