Images of IAS officer Vishakha Yadav greeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Arunachal Pradesh on Monday, September 22, have gone viral. The photographs show Yadav welcoming the Prime Minister in the Papum Pare district, leading to widespread online interest in her background.
Yadav herself shared pictures of the welcome, calling it a privilege. She posted on social media, “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 currently serves as the District Collector of Papum Pare in Arunachal Pradesh. She is an IAS officer within the AGMUT cadre, which serves Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territories. Born in Delhi in 1994, her father, Rajkumar Yadav, is an assistant sub-inspector, and her mother is a homemaker.
Before joining the IAS, Yadav worked as an engineer. She holds an engineering degree from Delhi Technological University (DTU) and previously worked at Cisco in Bengaluru. She left her engineering job to prepare for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination, aspiring to become an IAS officer. Despite not succeeding in her first two attempts, she successfully cleared the exam on her third try. She scored 1,046 out of 2,025 in the UPSC exam.
In her previous role, Yadav served as the DC of Kurung Kumey and received the PM’s Award 2024 for excellence in Public Administration 2024 for her visionary “DigiKaksha” initiative. She has been instrumental in fostering digital transformation in education and governance within the northeastern state.