New Dakshina Kannada DC Sindhu B Rupesh assumes office

MANGALURU: Sindhu B Rupesh, a 2011 batch Karnataka cadre officer, assumed charge as the 129th deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada (DK) district, on Saturday.
Sindhu succeeds Sasikanth Senthil S, who in a dramatic move tendered his resignation from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) on Friday, and the state government, in a late night move, posted Sindhu, who hitherto was CEO of the Udupi zilla panchayat, to succeed Senthil.
Sindhu earned the distinction of being the second woman to be appointed as DC after Ranjani Srikumar, who had a short stint as the administrative head of the district in 1989. Her elevation also marked the first instance for the district, where posts of DC and additional DC are held by women. Roopa M J is the additional DC. Sindhu incidentally has served as part of an all-women team in Udupi.
Expressing happiness at the fact that women are holding top posts in DK after assuming charge, Sindhu, a BE graduate from Mysuru, said the gender of an administrator does not matter. “I was asked this question in Udupi where the then DC, SP and CEO were women,” she said, adding that such a development could spur more women to pursue careers in public administration. “It makes no difference to the administration in who heads it,” she asserted.
Noting that she had visited Mangaluru in the past, Sindhu said that the district with its diversity, will also pose its set of administrative challenges too, which should be very exciting. “The intellect of people of the district will help in generating inputs,” Sindhu said, adding the district administration will take forward the best practises already put in place by her predecessors, with the cooperation from people and officials concerned.
According to department of personnel and training records, Sindhu, a graduate in electronics and communications engineering, did her engineering from VTU, Belagavi. She chose public administration and sociology as subjects for the civil services examination. She secured an all-India rank17, and was the topper from Karnataka in the exam. Sindhu had earlier served as assistant secretary in the finance and budget department, prior to her appointment as CEO of Udupi ZP.