Richa

🔖.

[Divya Mittal @divyamittal_IAS]

आज मैंने 13 वर्षों की अविस्मरणीय यात्रा को अपनी इच्छा से विराम देते हुए IAS से त्यागपत्र दे दिया है।

साधारण परिवेश में पलते हुए मैंने एक अच्छे, सफल जीवन का सपना देखा था। दिन-रात एक कर IIT दिल्ली और IIM बैंगलोर से पढ़ने के बाद, लंदन में नौकरी लग गयी। पर 'सब कुछ' पा लेने पर भी कुछ अधूरा था। अपने देश में न होना खलता था। मेरी पढ़ाई, आत्मविश्वास, दुनिया में कहीं भी सिर उठाकर चलने की ताक़त, सब इस मिट्टी का कर्ज़ था मुझ पर। वो कर्ज़ चुकाना था। चाहती थी जिस भारत का सपना देखा था, उसे बनाने वाली ईंटों पर मेरे भी हाथों के निशान हों। सो लौट आई, और IAS अधिकारी बनने का सौभाग्य मिला।

बहुत कुछ करने का मौका मिला और बहुत सीखा। देवरिया ने सिखाया कि सही के साथ खड़ा होना विकल्प नहीं, कर्तव्य है। मीरजापुर ने सिखाया कि 'असंभव' कोई तथ्य नहीं, बस एक राय है। और माँ विंध्यवासिनी के चरणों में बैठकर सीखा कि शक्ति किसी पद से नहीं, उनकी कृपा और लोगों के विश्वास से आती है। ��बसे बड़ी सीख यह थी कि अपने लिए देखे सपने तो पूरे हो चुके थे, अब अपने लोगों के लिए देखे सपनों को जीना था। इस जीवन का असली सुकून उन आँखों में दिखा, जिस परिवार को पहली बार ज़मीन का हक़ मिला, जिस दिव्यांग को सम्मान से जीने का अवसर मिला, और जिस किसान के खेत को पानी मिला। उनके संघर्षों में साथ चलते हुए मैंने सीखा कि हर सरकारी फ़ाइल के पीछे एक व्यक्ति है, और उसकी गरिमा बनाये रखना ही न्याय है।

मूर्ख थी जो सोचा था कि कुछ देने आयी हूँ। सच यह है कि सबसे ज़्यादा मैंने ही पाया, और वो कर्ज़ और भी बढ़ता गया। लोग मेरी ख़ुशी में मुझसे ज़्यादा ख़ुश हुए। उन्होंने मुझे तब भी उसी विश्वास से देखा, जब मैं खुद ही थकी या टूटी थी। और इसी ने आगे बढ़ते रहने की हिम्मत दी। इतना प्यार, इतना सम्मान, इतना अपनापन मिला, कि मेरी झोली प���री भर गयी। और इसमें उन साथियों, अधिकारियों और कर्मचारियों का भी बहुत बड़ा श्रेय है जिन्होंने मेरे कंधे से कंधा मिलाकर काम किया और साथ डटे रहे।

आज आभार से आँखें नम हैं। बस एक दृश्य इनमें बसा है। लहुरिया दह की पहाड़ी की वो वृद्ध माँ, जो अपने गाँव में पहली बार पानी पहुँचता देख कुछ नहीं बोली, बस काँपते हाथों से मेरा सिर छूकर आशीर्वाद दे गई। पद तो आज छूट गया, पर वह स्पर्श जीवन भर नहीं छूटेगा। और वह स���ना भी नहीं छूटेगा, जो देश की इस मिट्टी ने मुझे दिया है।

आपकी अपनी,
दिव्या मित्तल

[Parveen Kaswan, IFS @ParveenKaswan]

A chemical called TPO (Trimethylbenzoyl Diphenylphosphine Oxide), used in some gel nail polishes, has raised health concerns and has been phased out of cosmetic products in the EU.

Consumers deserve clear ingredient labelling and safer alternatives. In india also such salons and uses are increasing !! Need caution.

[Indian Masterminds @i3masterminds]

💧 "People did not marry their daughters into this village."

That was the first thing IAS officer Divya Mittal heard about Lahuria Deh.

Years later, she remembers the same village for a very different reason—it became one of the most meaningful chapters of her career. 🇮🇳❤️

In an emotional LinkedIn post, the 2013-batch Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer reflected on her tenure as District Magistrate of Mirzapur and the mission that transformed a village many had given up on.

🏡 Lahuria Deh wasn't just remote—it had lived 75 years after Independence without a single tap water connection.

🚱 Nearly 1,500 residents, mostly from Dalit families, survived on water tankers. Every drop was rationed through Aadhaar cards. Women walked kilometres over rocky terrain carrying water home, while the Gram Sabha remained trapped in debt just to pay for tanker supplies.

📂 Government records had labelled the village an "IMPOSSIBLE CASE." The terrain was too steep. The project was considered financially unviable. Previous attempts had ended with surveys, files and no solution.

💪 But Divya Mittal and her team refused to accept that verdict.

⚙️ Engineers from Jal Nigam redesigned the lift water supply system, and the project was personally reviewed on-site every week.

✨ Just nine months later, water finally flowed through taps in 125 homes—for the first time in 75 years.

💙 "An old woman held my hand and cried," Divya Mittal recalled, describing one of the most emotional moments of her administrative journey.

🌟 Her biggest takeaway captures the true spirit of public service:

"Impossible is rarely an engineering verdict. It's usually an ownership verdict."

👏 A powerful reminder that committed leadership, persistence and compassionate governance can turn the most "impossible" dreams into reality.

@divyamittal_IAS #DivyaMittal #IAS #GoodGovernance #WaterSupply #JalJeevanMission #Mirzapur #UttarPradesh #PublicService #RuralDevelopment #Leadership #Governance #Inspiration #IndianMasterminds 💧🇮🇳

[Ashok Khemka @AshokKhemka_IAS]

The highest ethical attribute of a public servant is courage. Unfortunately, this cannot be tested in a written paper on Ethics.

[vishal dayama @VishalDayama]

strangely, we follow and unfollow people for the same reason: bahut gyaan hai iske paas

[Danny Deraney @DannyDeraney]

"Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved."

"What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."

Jane Goodall was the best of us.

[National Geographic @NatGeo]

Primatologist, conservationist, animal advocate, educator, and National Geographic Explorer Jane Goodall has died at age 91. Goodall’s decades of research into the lives of wild chimpanzees transformed our understanding of these intelligent apes. https://t.co/i3qzfDIAzg

[All India Radio News @airnewsalerts]

Indian biologist and wildlife conservationist Purnima Devi Barman named "Woman of the Year" by Time magazine.

#PurnimaDeviBarman

[sushma date @sushmadate]

In 1930, a 24 yr old Indian girl completed her PhD in Germany. Her thesis? To prove the superiority of the white race based on the measurements of German and East African skulls, to show that 'white skulls' had better developed right brains ( then known as the seat of reasoning and logic). This was the pet theory of her supervisor Eugen Fischer

After meticulously examining 150 skulls, her findings led her to the opposite conclusion, a direct contradiction of her supervisor's theory. There was no difference between 'white' and 'coloured' skulls - and it must have taken a lot of guts to submit this thesis to him.

She went on to become India's first female sociologist and anthropologist, led a brilliant academic life with her husband, the equally remarkable Dinkar Karve, and authored many books including my favorite - Yuganta

Her PhD guide, Eugen Fischer went on to become a Nazi, his theories influenced policies reinforcing racial purity, like forced sterilization of mixed race children and anti Semitic Nuremburg laws

Iru is a fascinating account of one of the pioneering women of India. Do read!

[Besan ka Halwa @vikramgrawol]

विद्यार्थी जीवन में "संघर्ष" को समाज इतना बड़ा बना देता है की संवेदना, सहानुभूति और समानुभूति की जगह नहीं बचती। दम या तो घुट जाता है या घोट दिया जाता है। समाज विद्यार्थी कब बनेगा...🙏

[Players' Tribune Football @TPTFootball]

Ángel Di María: "They say that my father was an even better footballer than me, but he broke his knees when he was young, and his dream died.

They say that my grandfather was even better than him, but he lost both of his legs in a train accident, and his dream died.

My dream was close to dying so many times.

But my father kept working under the tin roof … my mother kept pedalling … I kept running into space."

[Trikansh Sharma @trikansh_sharma]

Vision helps in creating art, camera is a tool. So what should we upgrade first ? #PhotographyIsArt

[Joy Bhattacharjya @joybhattacharj]

On the birth anniversary of Carl Sagan, my favourite quote ever. This is about a picture of earth taken from Voyager 1, 6 billion miles away from our planet
“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us....

[Joy Bhattacharjya @joybhattacharj]

Just witnessed one of the greatest ODI innings ever. Though they are stunning, no numbers can do justice to this Glen Maxwell innings!

[chess24 @chess24com]

"Brilliant and crushing victory by Vaishali!" (Leko)

"You absolutely don't get the sense of an IM when you look at this game. You get the sense of a very seasoned, experienced, measured grandmaster." (Naroditsky)

@chessvaishali leads with 8 points!

#FIDEGrandSwiss

[The Nobel Prize @NobelPrize]

This year’s economic sciences laureate Claudia Goldin showed that female participation in the labour market did not have an upward trend over a 200 year period, but instead forms a U-shaped curve.

The participation of married women decreased with the transition from an agrarian to an industrial society in the early nineteenth century, but then started to increase with the growth of the service sector in the early twentieth century. Goldin explained this pattern as the result of structural change and evolving social norms regarding women’s responsibilities for home and family.

#NobelPrize

[Keti Tsatsalashvili @keti_chess]

WGM Divya Deshmukh is something very special 💫

What an impressive performanceat Tata Steel India 🙌
#chess

[Chess.com @chesscom]

🗣️ @MagnusCarlsen

[ISRO @isro]

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
'India🇮🇳,
I reached my destination
and you too!'
: Chandrayaan-3

Chandrayaan-3 has successfully
soft-landed on the moon 🌖!.

Congratulations, India🇮🇳!

#Chandrayaan_3
#Ch3

[lichess.org @lichess]

Praggnanandhaa, 18 years old, is now the youngest #FIDEWorldCup finalist in history! The record has stood since 2005, when Ponomariov (22) lost the final against Aronian (23).