Tina Dabi (born 9 November 1993) is an Indian civil servant in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

. Her scores on the Indian civil service exam attracted intense media and public scrutiny of her personal life, sparked criticism of the reservation system for scheduled castes, and drew attention to

casteism A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), foll ...

in India and to the relationship between civil servants and politicians. ''

ThePrint The Print is an Indian online newspaper, owned by Printline Media Pvt Ltd. It was launched by journalist Shekhar Gupta in August 2017. History Printline Media Pvt. Ltd, founded by journalist Shekhar Gupta, was incorporated in New Delhi, Ind ...

'' called her "the

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

star of bureaucracy".

Early life and education

Dabi was born on 9 November 1993 in

Bhopal Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

, her family moved to Delhi in 2005. She is the daughter of Himali Kamble and Jaswant Dabi, both from Indian Engineering Services and also the elder sister of Ria Dabi,IAS. She attended

Lady Shri Ram College Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) is a constituent women's college, affiliated with the University of Delhi. History Established in 1956 in New Delhi by the late Lala Shri Ram in memory of his wife Phoolan Devi (Lady Shri Ram), the college bega ...

. In May 2016, she was awarded a B.A in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

Career

In 2015, at the age of 22, Dabi took the Indian civil service exam to qualify for an

Indian Administrative Services The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. The IAS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian Forest Service (IFS). ...

job and came in first in the nation, the first woman from the marginalized

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

caste to do so. Her accomplishment drew attention to the details of her personal life and criticism of the reservation system for scheduled castes. It also drew attention to

in India. Rohitha Naraharisetty, writing in '' The Swaddle'', said the "relentless media gaze...from the outset, had little to do with her accomplishments and more to do with astonishment" due to prejudice. Dabi told ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'', "When my results were out, wishes poured in on the first day, but the next day, I started getting messages from the media asking for my caste, because my

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

sounded different”. In 2024, a video of Dabi bowing to

Satish Poonia Satish Subhashchandra Poonia (born 24 October 1964) is an Indian politician from Rajasthan. He was member of the 15th Rajasthan Assembly from Amber. He served as the state president of Bharatiya Janata Party for Rajasthan. He briefly also serve ...

drew attention to the relationship between civil servants and elected officials in India. Her first civil service position was in 2017 as an assistant collector in

Ajmer Ajmer () is a city in the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Ajmer district and Ajmer division. It lies at the centre of Rajasthan, earning it the ...

, Rajasthan. In 2020 she was a joint secretary in

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

, Rajasthan. In 2023 she was a district collector and magistrate in

Jaisalmer Jaisalmer , nicknamed ''The Golden city'', is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur, in the heart of the Thar Desert. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Jaisalmer district ...

, Rajasthan. In 2024 she was district collector in Barmer.

Personal life

In 2018 Dabi married Athar Aamir Khan, which

Hindu Mahasabha Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha (), simply known as Hindu Mahasabha, is a Hindu nationalism, Hindu nationalist political party in India. Founded in 1915 by Madan Mohan Malviya, the Mahasabha functioned mainly as a pressure group advocating th ...

called a

love jihad Love jihad (or Romeo jihad) is an Islamophobic conspiracy theory promoted by right-wing Hindutva activists. The conspiracy theory purports that Muslim men target Hindu women for conversion to Islam by means such as seduction, feigning love ...

. The couple divorced in 2021. She married fellow IAS officer Pradeep Gawande in 2022, and she gave birth to their son in 2023. ''

'' referred to her as "the

star of bureaucracy" because of the level of media and public interest in her personal life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dabi, Tina Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Indian civil servants People from Bhopal 1993 births Lady Shri Ram College alumni 21st-century Indian women civil servants 21st-century Indian civil servants Indian Administrative Service officers