Meet Divya Mittal, IAS Officer Who Resigned After 13 Years Service
Divya Mittal, an IAS Officer for 13 long years, has stunned India, especially Uttar Pradesh, after announcing her sudden resignation from the prestigious Civil Services.
[In a farewell event organized by the residents of Mirzapur in September 2023, Divya Mittal was showered with flowers and rose petals.]
Divya Mittal, an IAS Officer for 13 long years, has stunned India, especially Uttar Pradesh, after announcing her sudden resignation from the prestigious Civil Services.
The 2013 batch IAS Officer, Divya Mittal, was serving as Special Secretary in the Revenue Department of Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow, when she announced her resignation in a social media post.
In the long post written in Hindi, Diya Mittal IAS did not explain any reason for the sudden decision. However, experts in reading between the lines, claim that there are many hints in her post indicating she might join Politics.
There are also reports that she had held a “secret meeting” with the Leader of Opposition (LoP) and Senior Congress Leader, Rahul Gandhi, before taking the decision. The Congress Party and Divya Mittal have neither refuted nor confirmed these reports.
In her post, Divya Mittal said her stint as IAS Officer was “an unforgettable 13-year journey” during which she served as District Magistrate (DM) of various districts of Uttar Pradesh including Sant Kabir Nagar, Mirzapur, and Deoria.
Divya Mittal's Resignation: Full Text
Today, I have voluntarily stepped away from an unforgettable 13-year journey by resigning from the IAS.
Having grown up in humble surroundings, I had dreamed of a good, successful life. After burning the midnight oil to study at IIT Delhi and IIM Bangalore, I landed a job in London. But even after attaining "everything," something still felt incomplete. Being away from my country weighed on me. My education, my confidence, the strength to walk tall anywhere in the world—all of it was a debt owed to this soil. That debt had to be repaid. I wanted my handprints on the bricks that would build the India I had dreamed of. So I returned, and was fortunate enough to become an IAS officer.
I had the opportunity to do so much and learned even more. Deoria taught me that standing with what is right is not an option, but a duty. Mirzapur taught me that "impossible" is not a fact, but just an opinion. And sitting at the feet of Mother Vindhyavasini, I learned that true power comes not from any position, but from her grace and the trust of the people. The greatest lesson of all was that the dreams I had once seen for myself had already come true; now it was time to live the dreams I saw for my people. The real peace of this life shone in those eyes—of the family that received land rights for the first time, of the differently-abled person who gained the chance to live with dignity, and of the farmer whose fields finally received water. Walking alongside their struggles, I learned that behind every government file is a person, and upholding their dignity is what justice truly means.
I was a fool to think I had come to give something. The truth is, I received the most, and that debt only grew deeper. People were happier for my joy than I was myself. They looked at me with the same trust even when I was exhausted or broken. And it was that which gave me the courage to keep going. I received so much love, so much respect, so much belonging, that my lap overflowed. And a huge share of credit for this goes to those colleagues, officers, and staff who worked shoulder to shoulder with me and stood firm by my side.
Today, my eyes are moist with gratitude. Just one scene lingers in them. That elderly mother from the hill of Lahuriya Dih, who said nothing upon seeing water reach her village for the first time, but with trembling hands touched my head and gave her blessings. The position may be left behind today, but that touch will never leave me in this lifetime. And that dream, too, will never leave—the one this soil of the country gave me.
Yours truly,
Divya Mittal
[Divya first appeared in the UPSC Civil Services Exams in 2011 and qualified for the post of IPS Officer. While serving as an IPS Officer, she re-appeared in the UPSC exam to improve her rank, and secured the 68th rank in the 2013 UPSC CSE.]
Divya Mittal's Career Journey
Divya Mittal was born on November 23, 1983 to a middle-class family. She is married to Ganagandeep Singh Dhillon, and the couple has two daughters to raise.
After acquiring early education, Divya completed graduation from IIT Delhi, and later did masters from IIM Bangalore.
Before joining the Civil Services, Divya, the IIT Delhi and IIM Bangalore alumnus, had worked for JP Morgan in London. In an interview, she said she was inspired and persuaded by her husband Ganagandeep Singh Dhillon - a 2011 batch IAS Officer, to return to India and join the Indian Civil Services.
Divya first appeared in the UPSC Civil Services Exams in 2011 and qualified for the post of IPS Officer. While serving as an IPS Officer, she re-appeared in the UPSC exam to improve her rank, and secured the 68th rank in the 2013 UPSC CSE.
Divya Mittal has left behind a remarkable service record as an IAS Officer. One of her greatest achievements was providing water under the Jal Jeevan Mission to Lahuria Dah village, benefiting some 125 families having over 1,200 people. The village had no piped water. Due to her efforts, it got tap water for the first time in 75 years.
During her tenure in the Civil Services, Divya Mittal, in coordination with Chief Development Officer IAS Pratyush Pandey, also launched 'Chaupal' - an initiative aimed at nurturing future civil servants within the district.
It is reported that Anupriya Patel, Union Minister and MP from Mirzapur, and local BJP MLA were unhappy with Divya Mittal. The result was her transfer from Mirzapur soon after the successful implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in the district. The transfer order sparked protests from the villagers who later organised a farewell event for Divya Mittal where she was showered with rose petals.
Journalists and people who know her are stunned by Divya Mittal's resignation and are casting doubt and raising questions.
"From Deoria to Mirzapur, wherever she was posted, she left her mark through her work—especially on issues affecting poor families, farmers and villages... But now, after 13 years of service, she has voluntarily resigned from the IAS.
"And everyone is asking just one question... WHY? Was she tired of the system? Were repeated transfers a factor? Or is she preparing to begin a completely new chapter?" Dr Priyanka, a Specialties Cardiology, wrote on social media platform X.
"This is not a resignation. It is a statement. Exactly three years ago, IAS Divya Mittal was transferred from District Magistrate of Mirzapur to Basti. That transfer did not merely change her posting - it set the stage for the resignation we are witnessing today", Piyush Rai, a Journalist, wrote on X.
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